S&YE189 - SUBIMODS

[00:00:10] What's going on guys? This is Nick from Subie Mods here and I am on the Subie & You podcast episode 189.

[00:00:18] If you haven't heard of Subie Mods before, you can find us at subiemods.com,

[00:00:23] at Subie Mods on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, whatever social media you have, we're available on it.

[00:00:29] I appreciate all of the listeners and Rafael for having us on and giving us a chance to kind of have a dialogue here for a little bit.

[00:00:37] Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the Subie & You podcast.

[00:00:41] I want to thank you Nick with Subie Mods for taking the time to record with me and share the story and journey of you and your team and Subie Mods.

[00:00:53] This episode is longer than usual, but there is a good story behind Subie Mods and Nick and his team, so stick around and hear the full story.

[00:01:03] Ryan with Subie Mods, who is also the same Ryan that you see out there taking and shooting video content for Bucky Lassick,

[00:01:13] he reached out to me and told me that they were interested in being a guest on the podcast and that they had been listening to some episodes.

[00:01:22] So that was how the conversation got started.

[00:01:24] And then he got me in touch with Nick and then it went on from there with Nick and I having communication.

[00:01:31] And then now here we are to share their journey.

[00:01:34] So I'm excited to have them on the podcast.

[00:01:36] The Subie & You podcast is brought to you by Eccentric Designs.

[00:01:41] For those of you who don't know, Eccentric Designs is a small, community-driven business that offers custom fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models.

[00:01:50] This includes various designs for the rear reflectors, taillights and side taillights.

[00:01:54] I also offer fun decal designs like the popular fender stripes and stickers.

[00:01:58] To find designs for your Subie, head on over to eccentricdesigns.com.

[00:02:03] There's always more projects in the works, so be sure to follow at eccentric.designs on Instagram.

[00:02:09] As always, thank you so much, Eccentric Designs, for sponsoring this Subie & You podcast.

[00:02:14] Be sure to go follow her on Instagram and check out her webpage and find out what she has to offer for your Subaru.

[00:02:21] So this year for Wicked Big Meat, Subie Fest California, Boxer Fest, Subie Fest Midwest, Subie Fest Florida and Subie Fest Texas,

[00:02:33] Subie Mods was one of the official partners and also they were the ones that put together the all Subaru car show at all of these great events.

[00:02:43] So Subie Mods had a very big presence this year at all of the Subie events.

[00:02:50] They also had one of the biggest and coolest displays at the event with this just massive, I don't even know what you would call it.

[00:03:00] I wouldn't really call it a tent. It was almost like a temporary, just cool structure.

[00:03:05] So at Subie Fest Texas, it was really cool to see that and walk around and check out all their merchandise

[00:03:10] and just see what a great presence they had at this event.

[00:03:16] Well, at all the events, but especially at Subie Fest Texas because that's the only one I went to.

[00:03:20] So I'm excited to get into this here in just a little bit.

[00:03:24] This episode is brought to you by SubaruGear.com.

[00:03:28] This is the time to start doing your shopping if you haven't already.

[00:03:34] You can do some shopping for the Subaru enthusiasts in your life or for yourself.

[00:03:39] And you can do it all at SubaruGear.com.

[00:03:42] If you go to the collections and find the holiday collection, they have a lot of great holiday themed items.

[00:03:51] But they also have some cold weather gear, which is a perfect combination for all of the cold weather that is either already starting or is going to be coming up soon in conjunction with the holidays.

[00:04:03] But don't just stop there. Explore the whole shop.

[00:04:06] There is a lot of great items in the Subaru Gear shop, including a lot of really great new products.

[00:04:14] So go check out SubaruGear.com, use the code SUBIEANDU24 to get 20% off your purchase.

[00:04:22] And if your total is over $50 after the 20% discount, you will automatically get free shipping, which is a really great deal.

[00:04:32] So thank you so much, SubaruGear.com for sponsoring the SUBIEANDU podcast and extending this great offer to our listeners.

[00:04:41] And now it's time to get into this episode with Nick and hear all about SUBIE mods.

[00:04:47] And that's S-U-B-I-M-O-D-S, not SUBIE the same way it is spelled in the SUBIEANDU podcast.

[00:04:57] So just keep that in mind when you're searching for them.

[00:05:12] Hey, welcome to the podcast, Nick.

[00:05:15] Awesome.

[00:05:16] It's great to have you.

[00:05:17] And, you know, I, Ryan contacted me initially and said that y'all were interested in being a guest on the podcast and sharing about SUBIE mods and what it is and who you are in the industry.

[00:05:30] And, uh, so I was, the more I started to email back and forth.

[00:05:34] And then when I talked to you on the phone, I got even more excited.

[00:05:38] And then seeing the SUBIE mods set up at SUBIE Fest, Texas, and then meeting Ryan and not realizing that that was the same Ryan that emailed me, you know, that he was the one that has been working with Bucky doing video content, got even more excited.

[00:05:54] So I'm very glad to have you and glad to have SUBIE mods on the podcast.

[00:05:59] Absolutely.

[00:06:00] No, uh, it all, it's great when, uh, like-minded individuals come together and, and, you know, um, we've been, I've been doing this for a long time.

[00:06:09] And every year I meet new people at the SUBIE events and make new connections.

[00:06:13] And sometimes the best ones come out of just a spur of the moment email, right.

[00:06:17] You know, is, uh, kind of like, you know, you say, just shoot the shot.

[00:06:21] Right.

[00:06:21] And, uh, if it adds up, it'll, it'll work.

[00:06:23] So yeah, no, um, you know, I, again, appreciate you coming on.

[00:06:27] I love what you're doing.

[00:06:28] I, uh, I think the podcast space is, is really, uh, under under it's under utilized right now for our industry.

[00:06:36] And you're kind of really the one that's blazing that trail forward.

[00:06:40] So again, you know, kudos to you for stepping into that space and doing the same.

[00:06:44] You know, it just gives a different aspect to being able to share people's stories.

[00:06:52] And a lot of people have gotten connected because of the podcast, which has really been cool too.

[00:06:57] Yeah, no, absolutely.

[00:06:58] And I think that under, that underscores a big thing about our new, this new kind of era we live in where, you know, people communicate online for years, right.

[00:07:07] You know, they won't hear that person speak or they won't meet that person in person physically.

[00:07:12] And, uh, that's kind of cool, you know, a quick, you know, segue into the subie events is I think that's what's so cool about Rob and Khan have put on is, is that it gives niche, uh, a niche community like Subaru, a chance to kind of all come around this, this kind of, I don't want to use the word cold, but I kind of like the word cold because that's kind of, uh, at times what it feels like a chance to come out and really be unified under that one passion.

[00:07:39] And I think that's, that's hugely important today in a world that's so divisive and so, uh, polarizing for whatever reasons.

[00:07:47] It's, it's good to have, you know, for us, it's, it's six weekends a year, but for a lot of people, it's maybe one or two because they can't traverse the coast to coast.

[00:07:55] But for us, we get to do it six times a year and it's, it's actually really, uh, it actually, I feel like it keeps me young.

[00:08:01] I'm only 30 now, but I feel like it, uh, it keeps me, uh, engaged in it because a lot of people wouldn't know this, but I'm there.

[00:08:09] Uh, unfortunately I couldn't make it to Texas and, um, Florida just due to some, some conflicts in my schedule.

[00:08:14] But, um, I love being there.

[00:08:17] I think it's, it's part of what keeps Subi mods, uh, not necessarily, I don't want to use the term relevant, but it keeps Subi mods being who we set out to be because this is a little bit of a history run.

[00:08:30] So we're kind of, no, it's great going a little deep on this, but I actually started, uh, at Subi events at wicked big meat when it was at Wachusett, which was like, I mean, uh, I must've been Robin con will text me when they hear this and say it wasn't 11 years ago.

[00:08:46] It was 12, but it was a good bit of time ago.

[00:08:49] And, uh, I remember what it was then.

[00:08:52] And then I remember it growing and me being more involved in this company and growing that and seeing brands that, you know, we were competing against really have a funny story.

[00:09:04] When I first did the first one myself, um, we had, you know, kind of like rented tents from like our snap on dealer.

[00:09:10] And it was, it was very haphazard.

[00:09:12] It wasn't, it wasn't what you saw last week in, in Texas.

[00:09:16] You know, I remember thinking to myself, well, one day I'm going to be at the front, you know, like I'm going to be that retailer and that brand that people come in and are wowed at it and want to talk to because at that point we, we were much smaller.

[00:09:30] And, um, you know, I never, I never, I also think like I never really, I never knew I was going to get there.

[00:09:38] I just always had a feeling that I wanted it.

[00:09:41] Right.

[00:09:41] So when it came this year for, it was that year for me when I walked by that booth and I felt the, the passion that the customers have.

[00:09:49] And, you know, as a, to any customer who's listening, who's dealt with us, um, and come to that, come to those events and been so willing to support us by buying a shirt or a sticker, just walking by the booth and saying, Hey, you guys helped me out.

[00:10:02] You know, from the bottom of my heart, you know, I love you guys because you allow my team and myself to, um, come to work every day and not hate our jobs.

[00:10:11] Right. That's such a big thing that, you know, is, is common.

[00:10:15] You hear today as people say, Oh, I just work there because I need to, or I need a job.

[00:10:19] It's like these customers and these customers in this community, um, they make it so that that's not that.

[00:10:28] And it's not just for me, right.

[00:10:29] It's for my team as well.

[00:10:31] Right.

[00:10:31] There's 17 people behind the scenes who, who make this go around every day.

[00:10:36] So you guys doing that for us is, uh, you know, I, uh, get getting too emotional, but, um, that's okay.

[00:10:44] That I say that because, um, it, it means the world to me because the people who see it today didn't largely see it back then.

[00:10:55] So they don't have that history.

[00:10:57] Um, and they don't know how many, you know, blood, sweat, tears, you know, nights of like, okay, how is this going to work?

[00:11:04] And what are we going to do?

[00:11:05] Did it take to get to this kind of picturesque view that you see today?

[00:11:09] Yeah.

[00:11:10] You have a story to tell and then there's a passion behind it.

[00:11:14] And, you know, some people are passionate about their car because they lost a family member or, you know, they're passionate about their car because it just reminds them of something from their childhood.

[00:11:27] So whatever it may be, there's a passion there and there's a reason why somebody may get emotional because they're so passionate about it.

[00:11:36] Absolutely.

[00:11:37] Yeah.

[00:11:37] And that's, uh, that's a huge point.

[00:11:42] I think of what makes the industry so awesome.

[00:11:45] And that's what really keeps, I think that's like the, it's the fuel, right?

[00:11:50] Uh, to that fire that keeps this going.

[00:11:52] And that's kept this burning for so long is, is that, you know, people, they want to be able to set a goal for themselves, hit that goal, move on.

[00:12:00] And then those goals maybe aren't, oh, I want this part or I want this thing.

[00:12:04] They could be bigger and overarching.

[00:12:06] Like I want to be accepted.

[00:12:09] Right.

[00:12:09] That could be one.

[00:12:10] Right.

[00:12:11] Or I want to feel welcomed into something.

[00:12:13] Maybe that hasn't ever happened in their life and this allows them to do it.

[00:12:17] So never once does someone come up to me and I, I hate to say that I sometimes have to be very nice and go, Hey, I really appreciate you coming up and saying this, but I'm currently in a bit of a fire here.

[00:12:28] Cause one of our pallets is lost somewhere and I have to go run away.

[00:12:32] But I, I always try to say, Hey, like a hundred percent, you guys are what makes this go around.

[00:12:37] So, you know, I, to that point.

[00:12:39] Yeah.

[00:12:40] Well, you mentioned earlier, like the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into Subi mods to see for people to see what it is today.

[00:12:46] So I want to get into like where it all started, how it started, why it started.

[00:12:50] But before we do that, there's this silly thing that Sierra who goes by SLT Trek started a while back.

[00:12:59] And now I do it with every episode and every guest.

[00:13:01] And that is, I ask whether you prefer waffles or pancakes.

[00:13:06] Oh, I, I'll throw you a curve ball.

[00:13:08] I could go, I'm, I could go either way.

[00:13:10] And the reason being is, is, uh, I think it's not the waffles or the pancakes for me.

[00:13:16] It's the sugar and the syrup.

[00:13:18] It's the, it's the sugar and the syrup that goes on top of them.

[00:13:20] That's really what I'm interested in.

[00:13:22] I could put, I could put that on anything, but, uh, yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to say it's a 50, 50 for me, put either in front of me, but as long as there's, you know, syrup on top of it, I'm taking it.

[00:13:31] Yeah.

[00:13:32] Vermont sports car syrup.

[00:13:34] Absolutely.

[00:13:35] Yep.

[00:13:35] Shout out to Andrew and the guys up there.

[00:13:37] Uh, I will, uh, I want at least a case this year.

[00:13:40] I need at least about six bottles of it.

[00:13:43] Yeah.

[00:13:44] So I guess let's go back to the beginning of like how, like how, when and why was SubiMods formed and, and then talk about like what SubiMods is.

[00:13:56] And then also third, like, how did you come up with the name?

[00:14:01] The name is pretty obvious when you think about what it is that you do.

[00:14:04] But, you know, I want to know, like, were there other names that you were considering when starting this business?

[00:14:11] Yeah.

[00:14:12] So I want to take you back a little further, if that's all right, because there's some information that obviously has to, you got to know this part to know the second part.

[00:14:22] So my father, uh, was, uh, big into the car industry.

[00:14:27] And I mean, early on, uh, late eighties, early nineties, right?

[00:14:31] Uh, he started doing car stereo and audio for a local facility in, in Connecticut.

[00:14:37] And he quickly kind of, uh, he started his own business.

[00:14:41] And at this point I'm not born yet just for the story.

[00:14:44] This is probably early nineties.

[00:14:45] Uh, he moves into a facility and starts doing, uh, you know, his own kind of car stereos, car phones for those who are a little, you know, younger.

[00:14:56] Uh, yes, your cell phone used to actually have to be physically installed in a car.

[00:15:01] I remember those days.

[00:15:02] And then they moved to the brick phone, obviously, and things like that.

[00:15:05] But you had car phones, radar detectors.

[00:15:08] This was all very new technology in the, you know, late eighties, early nineties.

[00:15:11] So he kind of gets into that and, uh, life has a way of, of, I think kind of bringing people around for him.

[00:15:20] Uh, that was, uh, early on like the, the DSM market and the Nissan market.

[00:15:25] Cause you know, a lot of people, you have to kind of set the stage a little that in the late year, even in the nineties, like Subaru wasn't really an established, you know, it wasn't the same brand that it is today.

[00:15:37] Right.

[00:15:37] I'll say that that's a very political statement in the United States.

[00:15:41] I mean, Japan obviously was a little bit earlier.

[00:15:44] Maybe you could argue 10 years, eight years earlier than us, but over here it wasn't big.

[00:15:49] Um, so you really were dealing with like the DSM market, uh, the Nissan, the Honda, things like that.

[00:15:56] So he kind of starts building this following of a little bit of like a tuner shop, I guess you could say.

[00:16:01] And fast forward a few years, you get to the early two thousands and what happens?

[00:16:06] Well, fast and the furious, the first one comes out.

[00:16:09] And I know that's going to sound cliche, but it sets the stage for everything that comes after.

[00:16:13] And my father starts to kind of realize that, Hey, like, you know, uh, this is a, this is an emerging market.

[00:16:20] Right.

[00:16:20] And then boom, 2002 hits the first WRX comes into America.

[00:16:25] And at that point, you know, they had to see nothing really like this before.

[00:16:31] Like this car was completely.

[00:16:34] Trend setting.

[00:16:36] Right.

[00:16:36] I mean, it boasted a lot of specs.

[00:16:39] The price was pretty digestible at the time.

[00:16:41] Um, you know, and it really did well.

[00:16:45] Or, well, it did well to establish the brand as something really good to modify.

[00:16:51] And he kind of quickly pivoted his business around that.

[00:16:55] And kind of a quick segue, he had bought a Sonic yellow WRX.

[00:16:59] And at this point, if I do the math on it, I was probably 10, maybe nine, 10.

[00:17:05] So when he got that, I was just like, are you driving me to school tomorrow on this?

[00:17:09] Cause I gotta, I got some people that I gotta, you know, make sure know that like my dad has

[00:17:14] the coolest car I've ever seen.

[00:17:16] And, uh, very quickly after that, he starts pivoting to basically Subaru, Subaru and Mitsubishi.

[00:17:24] Cause at that point you had the Evo as well.

[00:17:26] I know we'll, we're not going to go too deep on the Evo side of it on this podcast, but,

[00:17:31] um, that battle was really good for his business because he was able to kind of leverage both

[00:17:37] elements of it.

[00:17:38] Um, and another point for those listening today, like let's talk about 2002 early two thousands,

[00:17:45] right?

[00:17:46] The internet e-commerce wasn't a thing, right?

[00:17:50] Uh, the, the Bezos, Amazon, Walmart's like they were still very much kind of in their infancy

[00:17:57] and brick and mortar was still huge.

[00:17:59] So my father sold the pitch of, Hey, you drop your car off and hand me some money.

[00:18:05] And I'm going to hand you back something with, uh, you know, a catback exhaust and intake,

[00:18:10] whatever it may be.

[00:18:11] Um, tuning was rather limited back then as well.

[00:18:14] Uh, but you know, they were starting to come out with various piggyback, you know, solutions

[00:18:20] to kind of, uh, uh, I guess you could say get some calibration on the cars, but it was

[00:18:25] very much, uh, all right, Hey, you're going to do it all and you're going to put it on and

[00:18:30] I'm going to pay you.

[00:18:31] And that was very unique because you have to remember like the JDM brands that were established

[00:18:40] or HKS, you and Greti, all of these overseas companies, they had a little bit longer of a

[00:18:46] runway for these parts before from the GC chassis that was stateside there.

[00:18:50] So very quickly, my father got hooked up with a lot of these importers and was able to have

[00:18:56] a stream of, you know, Japanese supply product that actually fit these cars.

[00:19:01] And that was like the huge thing because everyone wanted to do something to him, but no one had

[00:19:08] any place to go.

[00:19:09] So he built that and really nurtured it and grew it all the way to about Oh four when the

[00:19:15] STI comes out.

[00:19:16] And that same story where I said, you know, he pulls in the driveway with it and I'm like,

[00:19:20] Oh my God, this is, this is again, the better, uh, of, you know, this is, it's like, Oh, this

[00:19:25] car is, you know, that WRX on steroids.

[00:19:27] Right.

[00:19:28] And, uh, continues that saga all the way up until about 08, 08 hits and, uh, it changed

[00:19:37] everything for that.

[00:19:38] Almost everyone.

[00:19:39] Right.

[00:19:39] That financial crash happens and, uh, people stopped coming in with the money.

[00:19:45] You know, they wanted to still modify their cars, but online was kind of online was becoming

[00:19:52] the path, I think for a lot of people.

[00:19:54] And, uh, they were more willing to work on their own cars cause there was more information

[00:19:58] forms had been available for five, six years at that point.

[00:20:02] And, um, very quickly, you know, my father's developed some health issues that he was like,

[00:20:08] okay, Hey, it's my time to walk away.

[00:20:09] You know, I want to, I want to walk away.

[00:20:11] And he did, uh, to his credit, it's, it's something that, um, you know, I don't think

[00:20:16] he likes that in his story, but I think, uh, knowing where I'm at today, if someone forced

[00:20:21] me to walk away, how hard of a decision that would be for me, I give him a lot of credit

[00:20:26] for, you know, doing it that way.

[00:20:28] So that's a funny part of the story because about another two or three years later, he couldn't

[00:20:34] stay away and, uh, him and another partner actually, uh, were the ones who kind of came

[00:20:39] up with the name SubiMods.

[00:20:41] I can't tell you exactly how they thought of it, but I can tell you that my father is

[00:20:45] very good at naming things.

[00:20:47] Um, he's extremely good at the idea creation and kind of all of that.

[00:20:52] And they had a slogan at the time, which was modding the industry.

[00:20:56] So I think they kind of wanted to take what they learned, uh, in the years prior to that.

[00:21:02] And they wanted to kind of flip the script and deal with it online.

[00:21:06] Right.

[00:21:07] Yeah.

[00:21:07] And so when they both partnered up and started this, was this now a hundred percent Subaru?

[00:21:14] Correct.

[00:21:14] A hundred percent.

[00:21:15] They made that decision right around then.

[00:21:17] And they developed actually where they started from was they developed, and this is kind of

[00:21:22] a funny segue, but it shows how something can start with such a simple idea and turn into

[00:21:27] something so much greater, you know, in time they made a bracket and a whiteboard.

[00:21:32] For hella horns, the horns that go to the grill.

[00:21:36] And, uh, they, you know, they just were killing it with this product.

[00:21:42] It was insane how well it was doing.

[00:21:43] And at this point I'm a 18 year old kid who, um, wasn't really great at school.

[00:21:50] Uh, I didn't really have a ton of prospects to college or, uh, yeah, I wasn't, I wasn't

[00:21:55] going D one in any sport and, uh, I wasn't getting into Harvard.

[00:21:58] So I kind of was like, okay, well, I'll work for my father in the summer of my high school

[00:22:03] year, uh, to actually, um, you know, I'll do something, your money, right?

[00:22:09] Politically speaking.

[00:22:10] Now, just real quick.

[00:22:11] I want to ask all this time that your father had the previous shop, were you like going to

[00:22:17] the shop and getting an interest?

[00:22:20] Oh, it was my, it was my, and I know I brushed over that, but I mean, um, it was a very, it's

[00:22:27] not by chance that I'm in this career I'm in.

[00:22:30] Let's put it that way.

[00:22:31] I wasn't able to obviously go during the weeks, but Saturdays were my day.

[00:22:35] That was the day where if you went to his shop name was XX tuning back in the day.

[00:22:40] If you went there on a Saturday, you saw, uh, 12 or, you know, this could have been anywhere

[00:22:46] from, you know, 10 years old to 15 year old kid running around there playing with, you

[00:22:51] know, RC cars or just being involved with the guys that he worked with and going to

[00:22:55] the track.

[00:22:56] And, uh, I think at times, you know, my father, uh, I, I don't know.

[00:23:03] I think in my head now there's times where I'm like, man, he really didn't want to have

[00:23:07] to deal with me running around the track and, you know, ask him dad, can I do something?

[00:23:11] And he's like, yeah, I go take these rocks out of this guy's front bumper type situation,

[00:23:16] um, to keep me busy.

[00:23:18] But absolutely.

[00:23:18] I was there, um, any day that he would allow it.

[00:23:22] And, uh, I learned very early on, like how awesome it is to be surrounded by this because

[00:23:30] it was nothing short of amazing.

[00:23:34] I mean, he had a 18,000 square foot facility with almost like a 7,000 square foot showroom

[00:23:39] that was on display.

[00:23:41] It was insane.

[00:23:42] If you've seen the scenes in fast and the furious, uh, like Harry's, it was that it was

[00:23:47] that.

[00:23:48] And it, it blew people away when they saw it.

[00:23:51] And it was just cool for me as a, as a kid to be exposed to that because it was like,

[00:23:56] okay, like you can, you have an idea, you have a dream.

[00:24:00] You have a dedication.

[00:24:02] You can build it.

[00:24:03] Right.

[00:24:03] Because I saw him build it that way.

[00:24:05] And I knew the story.

[00:24:06] Um, obviously I didn't see all of the, the bad, right?

[00:24:13] Because there is always bad.

[00:24:15] And let me be clear to everyone listening.

[00:24:17] You are never going to avoid the bad, right?

[00:24:21] You can, you can have the best life possible, but the odds don't, they don't work that way.

[00:24:28] Right.

[00:24:28] So I didn't see the stress, you know, I didn't see the, you know, mental and physical anguish

[00:24:35] that he would go through.

[00:24:37] But I saw it in ways in hindsight where he would come home from a long day at work, him

[00:24:43] getting up at 6am, going to work, come home, eat dinner with us, wait about an hour until

[00:24:50] we kind of all settled down and then go back to work.

[00:24:53] And that went on for years.

[00:24:55] I mean, that's not a, that wasn't like a unique thing.

[00:24:59] That was years of, of him just grinding and slaving away to, to make this work.

[00:25:06] And it, it took a toll.

[00:25:08] It definitely took a toll on him mentally.

[00:25:09] It took a toll on him physically.

[00:25:11] It had effects on our relationship, right?

[00:25:15] Uh, because you can't, you can't burn the candle at both ends.

[00:25:19] We spoke offline about that early, early.

[00:25:21] Like you can't burn the candle at both ends like that.

[00:25:24] It doesn't work like that.

[00:25:25] So, um, yeah, definitely.

[00:25:27] I was, uh, I was around for all of it.

[00:25:29] And, uh, you know, at the time I had a different appreciation for it, but today I have a sitting

[00:25:35] in the seat that I am now.

[00:25:37] I have a really, uh, a really different appreciation for it and in a kind of more relative way.

[00:25:44] Yeah.

[00:25:45] So him being in this industry and getting into the JDM market and then the Subaru market, especially

[00:25:52] is kind of like what set the stage for you to take on that as well in your own way, which

[00:26:00] I know you'll get into that.

[00:26:02] And then, you know, leads into what we see is Subimods today.

[00:26:06] And yeah.

[00:26:07] Yeah.

[00:26:07] And I, I know like, so I'm kind of going forward a little bit, but I know Subimods has a strong

[00:26:13] online retailer presence, but do you, and I know you have a facility and everything, but

[00:26:18] do you also have a storefront?

[00:26:20] Yeah, we do.

[00:26:21] Yep.

[00:26:21] That's been, uh, like I said, everything.

[00:26:23] And I gave people that kind of segue into the backstory because it's so relevant to today

[00:26:29] when you hear me speak about what we are today.

[00:26:32] There's so much that I saw as a, as a young kid that I've deployed later in life.

[00:26:37] And that is one of them, right?

[00:26:38] I believe that people ultimately you can be influenced to buy things online by an ad or, um, by a influencer

[00:26:49] or whatever metric you want to choose.

[00:26:52] Right.

[00:26:52] But I think there's something unique about being able to walk into some place that has all of the things that you're passionate about, right?

[00:27:01] On display for you to interact with.

[00:27:03] But the big kicker is having the people behind the desk who are willing to support you in that process and aren't willing to say, oh, well, I got to sell this guy something.

[00:27:16] If we're going to get 10 people in here a day, I got to make 10 sales.

[00:27:19] No, there's people who walk in this showroom on any given day and, you know, my guys are there talking to them and, you know, what are you doing with the car?

[00:27:27] Oh, I want to do X, Y, Z, B and D.

[00:27:29] Oh, that's cool.

[00:27:30] You know, here's kind of some plans.

[00:27:33] Here's what you should watch out for.

[00:27:35] Here's some holes to avoid.

[00:27:36] Here's some thoughts about that.

[00:27:39] And if they go, okay, man, thanks.

[00:27:40] I appreciate that.

[00:27:42] Beautiful.

[00:27:42] You know, whether they elect to leave and buy it from us or another vendor or whoever.

[00:27:48] However, that's not our game is to not is to be a part of the process and the culture of modifying your car, because at some point we trust enough in our process that we're going to work with you.

[00:28:01] Right.

[00:28:01] We just want you to continue the course of modifying your car and enjoying it.

[00:28:07] And if we continue doing things right, we know that our path will intersect.

[00:28:12] Yeah, because you're going to if you talk to somebody in that manner who comes in and it's going to be valuable to them to get all this information and they're going to remember who gave it to them.

[00:28:22] The likelihood of them coming back and being like, he helped me out a lot.

[00:28:27] I didn't buy anything from him, but he really helped me out a lot.

[00:28:30] And he opened my eyes to possibilities and things that I can do.

[00:28:34] And so maybe I'll go back and talk to him a second time and then, you know, can eventually become a customer because that's you're going to help them bring value to their build and to their process and to their journey.

[00:28:47] Absolutely. And that's the that's what the showroom allows.

[00:28:51] That is what that physical interaction allows.

[00:28:54] That's what the subie events allow.

[00:28:56] That's what going to weekly Thursday night meets for us allow.

[00:29:00] Right. We don't take for granted that notion and that that appreciation for the fact that, hey, someone's coming in and asking us to help.

[00:29:11] Right. Someone's coming in and wants to do this.

[00:29:13] I think that that ultimately is one of the bigger things that businesses lose as they scale is that appreciation for the customer.

[00:29:21] I often, you know, equate it in dollars.

[00:29:24] Sometimes I tell a lot of one of the points I train my support reps on when we onboard someone is one dollar is a lot to someone with 10.

[00:29:32] Right. It's a tenth of your money.

[00:29:34] Ten is a lot to someone with 100.

[00:29:36] A hundred is a lot to someone with a thousand.

[00:29:38] What you have what we have to continue to realize is, is that ten dollars of someone's money to us may not necessarily feel like a lot of money.

[00:29:49] But that may be that customer, that person, that individual.

[00:29:53] Right. They may have spent their last ten dollars.

[00:29:58] Right. On something from us.

[00:30:00] And that is an extremely we have to treat that like it is ten dollars of our money and we only had ten dollars left.

[00:30:11] And I think that's that's ultimately one of the problems that any company's face is scaling.

[00:30:16] And I'm not saying we're perfect at it.

[00:30:18] I'm not saying anyone's perfect at it.

[00:30:20] But it's definitely something in this culture within this company that I am never going to take for granted.

[00:30:25] I will never take someone's money for granted.

[00:30:27] Yeah. So going back to where we kind of left off is you said that you, you know, you weren't great in school.

[00:30:34] You didn't really have like some big college aspirations and you decided like, I want to do something.

[00:30:39] So you decided to go work for your dad.

[00:30:43] And I'm guessing that that's probably where your story starts.

[00:30:47] Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:30:48] So I go to work for him in the summer of 2011.

[00:30:53] And, you know, at that point he had, as I said earlier, my father's very big on ideas and he has a lot of projects running at the same time.

[00:31:01] And he had kind of stepped away to do something a little bit different after his father had passed away.

[00:31:07] And, you know, he had kind of his mind was in other places.

[00:31:12] And there were some hard times at that point.

[00:31:17] Right. When I came into the company, there were there were some issues.

[00:31:21] Right. We it was a smaller business back then.

[00:31:24] And, you know, cash flow issues, a lot of inventory.

[00:31:29] And, you know, you kind of walk into this hurricane and you're like, OK, like, what is this?

[00:31:34] You know, I was supposed to work here two to three hours a day and I'm fielding calls from people screaming at me, asking me about this, this and that.

[00:31:43] And I don't know anything. Right.

[00:31:44] Baptism by fire comes to mind, I think, was the truth of that.

[00:31:49] And I was really the only person there.

[00:31:53] So it got something that got ingrained in me very early was do the work now.

[00:31:58] And don't cheat yourself. Right.

[00:32:01] Don't you can't cheat the hangman in this.

[00:32:04] I started, you know, I would be the guy who would take the orders online.

[00:32:08] I was the guy who would ship them.

[00:32:10] I was the guy who would talk to the customer if that didn't happen.

[00:32:13] Right. There was no.

[00:32:14] Oh, well, the warehouse didn't ship it.

[00:32:17] So I apologize.

[00:32:18] I am the warehouse.

[00:32:19] I am the warehouse.

[00:32:21] I am the customer support.

[00:32:22] So if I dropped the ball, I knew I was going to field that issue tomorrow.

[00:32:26] So it ingrained this sense of do the work, get it done and move on.

[00:32:33] Right.

[00:32:33] Right. And, you know, scoping into those times, 2011, 2012.

[00:32:39] You know, we had had a good following.

[00:32:40] I don't want to make it sound like in any way that I built this from zero.

[00:32:44] Right. The company had a good reputation.

[00:32:47] It was a little tathered. Right.

[00:32:48] I kind of think of it like a flag.

[00:32:50] Right. You know, you know what the flag means.

[00:32:52] You know what it stands for.

[00:32:53] But it can have some rips, some tears.

[00:32:55] And you have to kind of work to to patch it back up and make it something that, you know, flies true to what it looks like.

[00:33:02] And that's what that that era of time was for me.

[00:33:06] It was kind of just all right, let's let's plug this hole in the ship.

[00:33:09] Let's move on to the next one.

[00:33:12] And that took some years, man.

[00:33:15] That took.

[00:33:16] Oh, I think three years before.

[00:33:20] Yeah.

[00:33:20] So probably 2013 to 2014 before, you know, I was like and I and I don't remember at that exact time if I was cognizant of how much effort in time was happening.

[00:33:32] It kind of just felt like it was natural.

[00:33:33] But I remember when we moved from the facility that we were at, at this point, my father pretty much stepped away entirely and said, hey, look, you know.

[00:33:44] Say lovey, do with what you want.

[00:33:46] Right. It's yours now.

[00:33:48] You know, go for it.

[00:33:49] So when he stepped away at that point, was it still just you?

[00:33:54] Yeah.

[00:33:55] Wow.

[00:33:55] And how long did that continue?

[00:33:58] That continued, I think.

[00:33:59] So from about 2011 to 2013, I hired and it's actually a good story.

[00:34:04] I know he'll be listening.

[00:34:05] My one of my guys, Justin, he actually works for me today.

[00:34:09] He was my first hire.

[00:34:10] And I probably hired him about five or six months before we transitioned from our facility in East Hartford at the time to the location we're at now in Bloomfield.

[00:34:20] And we were, you know, me and him were really the only two there at all at any given point.

[00:34:27] Right.

[00:34:28] That was really it.

[00:34:29] And it quickly became kind of apparent when we moved up to Bloomfield that this was no longer a summer job or a couple years, you know, before you got to go to college and start your corporate career.

[00:34:47] Like, hey, I'm responsible for someone's well-being.

[00:34:50] Right.

[00:34:51] Yeah.

[00:34:52] You have an employee that you have to take care of in addition to yourself.

[00:34:56] Yeah.

[00:34:57] Yeah.

[00:34:57] And you learn pretty quick that that level of responsibility is nothing to shake a leg at.

[00:35:03] Right.

[00:35:03] I mean, I, you know, and I know maybe this isn't something everyone would share, but I think it paints the picture of honesty is there were weeks that I didn't take a check.

[00:35:12] There were weeks that months longer than I'd like to admit where, you know, I paid him and I paid the bills and I did what needed to be done.

[00:35:23] And I left very little for myself on the table.

[00:35:26] And luckily, I was able to do that being so young at the time and still, you know, living at home and, you know, kind of scaling my my my investment in the company.

[00:35:37] I was really able to reinvest all that.

[00:35:39] But, yeah, I give a lot of credit and a lot of compassion looking back now to that kid.

[00:35:46] I'm speaking of myself and third person there, but because, you know, I was very hard on myself at that time and I was very, very keen on that.

[00:35:55] I wanted to be exact.

[00:35:57] I wanted to be successful like I had saw my father.

[00:36:00] And, you know, looking back now, I give a lot of I have a lot of compassion for that kid because he went through a lot.

[00:36:06] I put myself through a lot really for that.

[00:36:08] Yeah.

[00:36:09] And so being a kid getting into this, you know, you're 18 when you start working for your dad and realizing, like you said, that you're having to take on all these roles at the company.

[00:36:20] You know, you're you're becoming responsible and learning a lot of things about the business and how to run it.

[00:36:27] I mean, like what was going through your head and what were you thinking of?

[00:36:30] Like, you know, I'm not just working here as an employee to do certain things.

[00:36:35] Like I'm actually kind of running this business now and you're having to learn the ins and outs, I'm sure, of the business so that you can help keep it running.

[00:36:45] And then getting to the point to where it's just you and you're like, oh, this is just me.

[00:36:50] Like, I really am running this business now.

[00:36:53] And then getting to the point where you're having to hire somebody, it's like, what was that process for you mentally of realizing that you're having to step up pretty much like all the time?

[00:37:05] Yeah, I think it's funny.

[00:37:08] I talk about this a lot and this kind of goes into a little bit of a personal element of how I am.

[00:37:13] I I'm I'm very I think this is probably why I kind of am the way I am today is I'm very much in my own head.

[00:37:23] I'm I wouldn't say I don't want to use the term schizophrenic in a way, but I speak to myself very, very lucidly and I bad ideas against myself.

[00:37:34] And I think everyone does that to some extent, but people have to be aware.

[00:37:38] Like I sat in an office for what, 600 days or, you know, like 900 days and spoke to myself.

[00:37:45] Right. I would talk to a customer and and I would say something and then I'd hang the phone up and I'd be like, man, I should have said that.

[00:37:52] Why did you say that? You should have done it this way. You should have done it that way.

[00:37:54] And I had this like nagging voice in my head that always was burning this fire of like, well, how are you ever going to get to the point of where your father was if you can't speak to a customer?

[00:38:08] And and it or you can't write a check. Right. Or, you know, you you bounce the checkbook again because you don't know this or you ship this to the wrong address.

[00:38:18] And it was just this constant. And this is where I create that parallel of that.

[00:38:23] I never saw that in my father. But as I started getting into that, I started realizing how loud that voice can be and how powerful it can be in a good way.

[00:38:33] But again, you can't cheat the hangman on that. And at that time, I didn't realize it. Right.

[00:38:40] I speak from this place of recognition now, 10 years later.

[00:38:44] But back then it felt natural to kind of always be putting yourself through this this evolution of do better, do better, do better.

[00:38:53] So to answer that question exactly, it almost came natural in the sense that I always look to improve everything.

[00:39:00] I look to improve my cell. I look to improve my my I guess you could say accountability to the company was a huge one. Right.

[00:39:10] I didn't view myself as an individual. I viewed myself as the company.

[00:39:16] And once you understand that, you can understand that any decision that I made was for the company.

[00:39:23] And ultimately, later in life, that becomes a problem.

[00:39:28] Because as I said earlier, you can't burn a candle at both ends like that.

[00:39:32] But that that's how I treated it. Any decision I made had to benefit the company.

[00:39:37] Yeah, I mean, you you start realizing, like I said, that this is yours.

[00:39:42] And like and I think you put it perfectly by saying you are the company because you're the one that has to make things happen and all aspects of it, especially being the only person there for a while.

[00:39:55] So, yeah.

[00:39:56] So we met a literally metaphorically.

[00:39:58] Yeah. So you you hire it was Justin, you said.

[00:40:02] Yep.

[00:40:03] And then how long was it just the two of you?

[00:40:05] And then I guess you had moved.

[00:40:07] So what how was the progression at that point?

[00:40:10] Like, where did SubiMod start to go?

[00:40:13] And like, did you start to see that?

[00:40:15] Hey, this could or I guess when did you start to see like this could really become something big?

[00:40:21] Because obviously you said that you already had a bit of a following.

[00:40:24] You had a fan base and you had people customers.

[00:40:27] So when did it like really start to pick up and kind of snowball?

[00:40:32] Yeah, I think that would probably have been around.

[00:40:36] I would say Justin might be able to paint the picture a little more clear.

[00:40:40] My memory sometimes isn't super good on this this timeline because it all meshes together.

[00:40:45] But I had a different view of success back then.

[00:40:49] Right. And what I'll say is I remember in 2015, I bought I bought a launch edition STI 2015 STI.

[00:40:58] And that was when something clicked, because right around 2015, there's this emergence of this industry that like it was always like kind of like that that that that big thing on the mountain.

[00:41:14] But then the 2015 WX and STI come out and it was like that mountain just came alive.

[00:41:19] Right. For us.

[00:41:21] And it was probably right then.

[00:41:22] And we had a couple of years and it was like, OK, well, now I'm not having to, you know, pull my you know, we're not putting the bank account in a position where if I spend twelve dollars the wrong way on a FedEx late, we're going to incur an overdraft fee.

[00:41:39] I wasn't boarding my private yacht on weekends, but it was OK.

[00:41:45] Like this looks like this can be something.

[00:41:48] We had a good following, a better following, I would say, in the showroom.

[00:41:52] We were developing an online presence through the forms.

[00:41:56] That was really what I hired Justin for initially was to come on and, you know, be my dedicated form kind of sales support guy.

[00:42:06] Right. So he was doing a lot of outreach through Nasiak and IWSTI and all of these forms that a lot of people listening today might not might not remember.

[00:42:14] But for those who don't know, they're like Facebook groups, just their own sites back then.

[00:42:20] And we kind of got to this point where our online store kind of started developing.

[00:42:26] Sales were coming in naturally.

[00:42:28] And I remember days where, you know, we would get an order for like an access port and I'd be like, oh, man, we just sold an access port.

[00:42:36] I'd look at Justin and be like, you just sold an exhaust.

[00:42:39] Like what? Like, that's awesome.

[00:42:41] Like, you know, because we were kind of used to the transient hundred, hundred and fifty dollar sales.

[00:42:46] And when people started really trusting us with that amount of money, it started to kind of paint this picture of like, man, like what could this be?

[00:42:56] You know, what what could this be if we could do this 10 times a day or 20 or 100?

[00:43:01] And again, that that kind of inner monologue, I'm going to call it in my head just took off and it really kind of gained traction the more that we developed our craft.

[00:43:16] And, you know, so 2015 to 2017 was where I think we hit our stride and we really began to get into a position of where, OK, this is no longer no longer an evolution, the next evolution of something where, oh, we're going to have one employee and he's going to work here while it's good.

[00:43:36] And, you know, it is what it is.

[00:43:38] But like, OK, this is real.

[00:43:40] This is really real now.

[00:43:43] And that's kind of, you know, brings us to, you know, 2017, 2018, where, you know, we kind of got to a position of, you know, and I don't really like to speak on sales figures, but we got to a position where, you know, I was like, didn't think that was possible.

[00:44:02] You know, when I was that, you know, 18 year old kid, you look at the number and you're like, oh, wow, like.

[00:44:09] This is cool, but I think this is part of that evil side of that, that inner monologue.

[00:44:16] It was never good enough.

[00:44:18] I always wanted more, bigger, bigger, bigger, better, better, better.

[00:44:23] And, you know, luckily that's that's been the case, you know, knock on wood and, you know, credit to the world for that.

[00:44:32] But, you know, it got to that point where we were kind of like three, four employees at that point.

[00:44:38] I know I kind of just sped a little forward there, but a new set of challenges definitely emerged at that point.

[00:44:44] Yeah. And, you know, I was just thinking as you were talking about selling certain products and everything, how do you go about as a retailer, whether it's online or you have your showroom?

[00:44:55] Like, how do you decide what products you want to sell?

[00:44:59] And then how do you partner with those brands?

[00:45:03] And then also, do you have like the Subimods have your own products?

[00:45:09] I mean, obviously, you've got T-shirt stickers and everything, but you're selling, you know, you go to your website, you have wheels, you have exhaust, you have, you know, all these other items that you are selling that are other, you know, brands or from other retailers.

[00:45:22] So how do those partnerships get formed?

[00:45:25] Yeah.

[00:45:26] So I'll touch on that.

[00:45:28] So at about from the 2015 to 2017, up until about probably it's a little later, but we had a small subset of products, the Helle Horns, the brackets and things like that.

[00:45:39] And believe it or not, that actually paid the rent.

[00:45:42] That was like our if we sold a certain amount of those a month because we were making them in house.

[00:45:48] And then, you know, it got to a point where we're like, all right, if we could sell, you know, whatever it was, I can't remember now, but we can pay the rent, you know, and everything else is.

[00:45:56] And that's how I kind of looked at it.

[00:45:58] I looked at the operation of the business like an elephant.

[00:46:01] And if I could just do a little bit here and there, I was going to take a piece of that elephant every day.

[00:46:07] But to answer your question and a couple points.

[00:46:10] So back then, small companies and people who are business owners listening to this will understand you don't have the money for big systems, right?

[00:46:19] You don't have the money for ERP, you know, systems that have all these reports and these new.

[00:46:25] And well, granted, nowadays, things like Shopify and, you know, WordPress help make that easier.

[00:46:30] But back then I had a sheet of products and this is a credit to me and Justin.

[00:46:37] We would know.

[00:46:39] All right.

[00:46:39] Hey, there's people are coming in and they're asking for rally armor mud flaps, right?

[00:46:44] Which ones are they asking for?

[00:46:45] Well, they want them for an 08 to 14, you know, hatch and they want them in black and red.

[00:46:52] OK, well, the next time we sell one, I'm going to buy another one for our inventory.

[00:46:57] Right.

[00:46:57] So we have one and we use that model.

[00:47:01] And I had a running, I think, Excel spreadsheet where when we would sell something, I used a model of if we sold it, buy another one.

[00:47:09] Right.

[00:47:09] And we just kind of kept building that.

[00:47:11] And, you know, as another segue to how you offer products, I'm very transparent about this.

[00:47:19] There's a couple of distribution partners, one that still exists today, who is extremely helpful in our growth, Turn 14 distribution.

[00:47:27] A gentleman by the name of Jeremy Sassman, who very early on kind of saw, I think, maybe.

[00:47:36] Probably I can't speak for him, but he maybe saw something in our company or in me or in Justin or in the idea and was like, hey, I'm going to do what I can to help these guys.

[00:47:47] And he was very instrumental in getting us access to a lot of brands.

[00:47:53] Right.

[00:47:53] Because a distribution partner, for those who don't know what that really is, is basically a company that comes in and creates a model where they take the burden of stocking items from 100 manufacturers off of the end user, off of me.

[00:48:09] And they do that and then they take an obvious percentage for doing so.

[00:48:14] But they stock it at their location and make it accessible to us on demand.

[00:48:18] Onesies, twosies.

[00:48:19] Right.

[00:48:19] I don't have to open with Cobb, Parren, Whiteline, Super Pro, et cetera, et cetera, and then hold all that liability.

[00:48:27] I can just go, oh, well, I need a Cobb access port or a Parren intake today and I can order it from them and have it in a few days.

[00:48:32] So, you know, they were very instrumental in the early points of the business and even to date in allowing us that ability to scale and do so without the stress of being like, well, I can't pay Justin in intakes again.

[00:48:49] Yeah.

[00:48:50] Do you have, I guess it's just kind of what the market is demanding or products that people are looking for?

[00:49:00] Is that how you decide what you want to sell?

[00:49:03] Yeah.

[00:49:04] I mean, for us, we looked at it as brand wide because at that time, our distribution partner in turn 14 had access to a lot of sport compact brands.

[00:49:13] I mean, it was probably over 50 at that point.

[00:49:16] It was basically like, let's do the work.

[00:49:19] So if, for example, with a brand like Parren, right, I'm going to take their entire line card of all their Subaru items and I'm going to add all of them to our website.

[00:49:28] And that was something I was doing in the background.

[00:49:30] I was kind of the data guy.

[00:49:32] Justin was handling the sales.

[00:49:34] I'd be the one who'd add everything to the website.

[00:49:37] And we didn't really choose to be selective.

[00:49:40] We didn't say, oh, we're going to sell this control arm from this brand and this sway bar from that brand.

[00:49:45] It was, hey, let's load these whole lines and let the customers choose.

[00:49:49] That was extremely important to today because it took our ego out of play.

[00:49:55] It took the sense of I don't necessarily know what the customer wants, but I'm going to make everything available to them and let them choose.

[00:50:03] And then we'll work on that.

[00:50:05] Right.

[00:50:05] And that was ultimately, I think, one of the better choices that we made as early on.

[00:50:11] Turn 14 made it easy for that decision to be made.

[00:50:14] But it gave us a lot of information very early on to be able to know, OK, hey, people buy X with Y and they usually then will have to buy B and A.

[00:50:27] And it was just very natural for us to be able to create that kind of planning, I guess you would say.

[00:50:35] Yeah.

[00:50:35] And so being a retailer of Subaru products, like how did you like what would you do to set yourself apart?

[00:50:44] Because you mentioned earlier about being, you know, at an event and seeing your competition.

[00:50:49] Like how did you start to form ways of being different and and I guess maybe like kind of beating out the competition?

[00:50:58] Like how did you want to set yourself apart as as a brand and as a retailer?

[00:51:04] Yeah, I think I always looked at it as you have to create a connection with people that goes far beyond the dollars.

[00:51:16] Right.

[00:51:16] That was the biggest thing.

[00:51:17] So we really looked at it and it wasn't necessarily a concerted plan early on.

[00:51:22] It was just that Justin and I were very personable people and everyone we hired thereafter was also very personable.

[00:51:29] And we were all enthusiasts.

[00:51:31] Right.

[00:51:31] Like that's the key is.

[00:51:34] It wasn't hard for us to want to do what I'm about to say next, because we all had a passion for what it was.

[00:51:41] Right.

[00:51:42] We wanted to support the customer.

[00:51:44] And, you know, maybe again, let me be clear and maybe I'm not being kind to myself.

[00:51:48] No one does everything right.

[00:51:50] Right.

[00:51:50] There's mistakes that happen.

[00:51:52] Things go wrong.

[00:51:53] It's impossible at any scale and any vertical that you're going to get it right 100 percent of the time.

[00:51:59] We really prided ourselves on.

[00:52:03] In knowing on knowing in the fact that, hey, if we don't do it right and that customer doesn't have a good opinion of us, then they're not going to come back.

[00:52:13] And if they don't come back, then we don't get we've lost that customer.

[00:52:18] They're gone.

[00:52:19] And for us at that point, we didn't have a lot of we didn't have a lot of bandwidth to let that happen.

[00:52:27] So it wasn't really an option.

[00:52:28] And then, you know, I think it just really underscores what the company is today, where we create processes and practices that ultimately, you know, lead by, hey, let's make sure that our customers are happy with their purchase.

[00:52:45] Let's make sure that they are happy with the fact that they bought something, that they got something, that it delivered the result they expected.

[00:52:53] And if it didn't, for some reason, then let's see what we can do to help.

[00:52:56] I can't promise the world, but I can promise something.

[00:52:59] Yeah.

[00:53:00] And customer service, good customer service is very, very important.

[00:53:05] And it's very smart to have good customer service because you hear so many people complain about buying a product and then not being able to get in touch with anybody.

[00:53:17] You know, they don't offer any kind of refund.

[00:53:19] They don't try to help them out.

[00:53:20] And then they get blasted and, you know, and you're like, you see people like, oh, stay away from this brand because they didn't help me out with whatever.

[00:53:28] And so being able to support the people that are supporting you is huge because you definitely want them to end up being happy with their purchase.

[00:53:40] But you also want them to come back and you also want them to know that you're going to be there for them no matter what the case, whether it worked out or didn't work out.

[00:53:48] And like you said, you know, you can't promise the world, but you're going to do what you can.

[00:53:52] And that that means a lot to people, especially they're here to spend their money, you know, on your products.

[00:54:00] And even if you don't have the cheapest price on something, you can have some crappy brand over here or some crappy company that may have really good products.

[00:54:11] But if their customer service is horrible and they're a little bit cheaper, nobody's going to want to deal with them because of the issues they're going to have, you know.

[00:54:19] And just being a good people to, you know, your fan base and to your customer base is just it's huge.

[00:54:27] And it really means a lot to the people that are coming to you.

[00:54:31] Oh, yeah. And I think the other point was we we didn't take it for granted.

[00:54:38] Right. We didn't get to this point of where I talk about in 2017.

[00:54:42] Like, oh, we don't we don't have to go to the Subie events anymore.

[00:54:46] Right. We don't have to do the weekly car shows.

[00:54:50] We don't have to do any of that.

[00:54:51] We kept investing in that.

[00:54:53] And, you know, we really tried and credit to Rob Champion and his team.

[00:54:59] They really allowed us birth at that point to.

[00:55:03] Develop our our craft at these events and interact with people and really, you know, kind of put more legs on a hey, if we're going to have we're going to be in front of two or three thousand customers like engaged Subaru owners who are coming to an event.

[00:55:21] And I'm going to I'm amped up.

[00:55:24] I'm ready to go like this is my Super Bowl.

[00:55:26] Those events were my Super Bowl because I knew if we could get to talk to three thousand people, then there's no chance if they know who we are and they know what we do and they know, you know, they get a chance to interact with us that they're going to want to work with us.

[00:55:41] So we we really took that ground floor approach to to just keep it simple, do the right work.

[00:55:47] And how did you get partnered with Subi events in the first place?

[00:55:51] Because when I was at Subi Fest, Texas, you had this huge display, which was awesome, by the way.

[00:55:59] And super tense.

[00:56:01] Yeah.

[00:56:01] I mean, that thing was incredible.

[00:56:03] I mean, it's like no joke and it's like super high quality.

[00:56:06] You can tell.

[00:56:07] But you also sell my hair for that.

[00:56:11] But it's also, you know, like, you know, Subi mods.

[00:56:15] It's like the all Subi mods car show and, you know, this great presence within the event.

[00:56:21] So, like, how did it how did you get partnered with them in the first place?

[00:56:25] And then how did you get to be like the car show is the Subi mods car show, you know, to that level?

[00:56:31] Yeah.

[00:56:32] So a lot of that was just.

[00:56:36] In the sense that, you know, Subi mods, as we were starting, kind of already had a name.

[00:56:40] And, you know, as we grew, it was very natural for them to continue to reach out to us and say, hey, do you want to be a vendor?

[00:56:46] You know, this year.

[00:56:47] And back then there wasn't six events.

[00:56:50] There was again, Rob Khan.

[00:56:53] Sorry.

[00:56:53] I think there was two.

[00:56:55] I think it was Boxer Fest and Wicked Big Meat.

[00:56:59] And, you know, they kind of came to us every time they would do something new and just say, hey, like, you know, what do you guys think?

[00:57:04] What do you want to do?

[00:57:05] Do you want to vend?

[00:57:06] And it was like, yeah, let's do it.

[00:57:07] Right.

[00:57:07] Why would I not want to go to, you know, FedEx Field in Maryland and be around, you know, 2000 Subaru owners.

[00:57:14] Right.

[00:57:14] Again, kind of that like this is my Super Bowl.

[00:57:17] So if you're going to let me have two Super Bowls a year, like.

[00:57:21] Yeah, I'm passionate about all of this.

[00:57:23] And I have a brand that caters to other people that are passionate about this.

[00:57:26] So it makes sense for me to be there.

[00:57:28] Exactly that.

[00:57:29] And, you know, as it grew and fast forward to some some what you see today, there were evolutions of it in between different tent setups, different concepts.

[00:57:40] Right.

[00:57:41] We actually used to bring and sell product at these events.

[00:57:44] Right.

[00:57:44] What you saw last weekend was a little different in that it was all merchandise branded around our company.

[00:57:50] But we used to bring, you know, the Cobb access ports and the NVIDIA exhausts and the Perrin sway bars and all of that.

[00:57:57] And that was that was a great time.

[00:58:03] But it was also probably one of the reasons I have no hair today, because that was a very, very difficult time.

[00:58:11] But that's a lot of product to bring in a lot of stuff to haul with you.

[00:58:15] So it's got to be I can only imagine that's got to be difficult.

[00:58:18] It was a lot of work.

[00:58:19] And, you know, there's a funny story.

[00:58:22] My GM, Steve, you'll hear a lot of times I I have a lot of employees to date who are a lot.

[00:58:28] I think probably two, three, actually, who've worked for me before when the company was smaller and then came back into the picture later in life.

[00:58:35] One of them is my GM, Steve, who he came into the picture and worked with me during one of the larger Wicked Big Meats we had done, which was where we basically kind of, you know, brought a ton of product.

[00:58:49] It was it was an insane amount for what we had done.

[00:58:52] We kind of all doubled down.

[00:58:54] And I remember we got there at like 3 a.m. to set up and the fence was locked.

[00:58:58] And I I'm like, you know, they had a security guard there and, you know, I'm like, Khan, you're going to let me into this event or I'm going to drive through this fence right now, because if I don't have 10 hours to set this up, this isn't going to work.

[00:59:13] So, yeah, they were there were days of, oh, man, 20, 20 hour days easily.

[00:59:19] In hindsight, I wouldn't change a thing, but I definitely would have I would have had more.

[00:59:29] I would have had, again, more compassion for that person that was doing it at that point, looking back for sure.

[00:59:35] Now, was this the first year that you were doing merchandise only or did you start doing that prior to this?

[00:59:41] We tested it last year and we found that what we really were starting to run into as the car models expanded and as Subaru as a whole expanded into Outback, Forester, Ascent.

[00:59:57] Now we have, let's say, let's say in 2023, we have almost 20 years of car on the market.

[01:00:05] Right.

[01:00:05] Hey, man, don't don't forget about the Crosstrek.

[01:00:08] Absolutely.

[01:00:09] Right.

[01:00:10] You know, so we have so many different car and car owners that more times than not, when someone was coming up to the booth, they were like, do you have this?

[01:00:19] And I'm like, no.

[01:00:20] And but I was like, I have this.

[01:00:22] And they're like, well, I want that.

[01:00:23] You know, the other thing you don't have or will you have a sway bar for this, but you don't have it for that?

[01:00:28] Or you have the polished tip exhaust, but I want the stainless one.

[01:00:32] And I'm like, I'm pulling my hair out.

[01:00:35] Right.

[01:00:35] Right.

[01:00:35] Because I'm like, you know, I can't hold them accountable for not knowing all of that goes into this.

[01:00:40] Right.

[01:00:40] They don't know.

[01:00:41] But we started to get to a point where it was less feasible for us to do this and have success doing it than in years prior.

[01:00:52] So Khan and I and Rob kind of sat down and we said, hey, like, you know, this is becoming really difficult for us to support.

[01:01:00] It's becoming really difficult for us to manage the online business, which exists all the while while we're at the show.

[01:01:09] Right.

[01:01:10] All the while while we're traveling, while we're at the show selling, we're having orders come in online and things are getting crazy.

[01:01:18] You know, we're the inventory systems aren't speaking.

[01:01:22] It's just it's a it's a kind of it's a it's a hurricane of problems.

[01:01:27] And, you know, we they understood.

[01:01:30] And, you know, I was always committed to staying.

[01:01:33] Right.

[01:01:33] It was never.

[01:01:34] Oh, well, I can't do this.

[01:01:36] So I'm going to leave.

[01:01:37] Right.

[01:01:37] I'm very fluid.

[01:01:38] And, you know, we kind of came around this idea.

[01:01:41] It was we brought some merchandise, some shirts and some things that we had and we sold all of them.

[01:01:47] I was like, huh.

[01:01:50] Nice.

[01:01:50] Like, OK, that's interesting.

[01:01:53] And, you know, people were coming up and saying, hey, like, I really like this.

[01:01:57] I really like your brand.

[01:01:58] I really want to support.

[01:01:59] And I was like blown away.

[01:02:01] I'm like kind of had that feeling like I did when I was early on where someone was willing to spend a good amount of money with us.

[01:02:07] And I'm like, what?

[01:02:08] I'm like, because I'm not cognizant of everything that's happening at that time and that scale of the company.

[01:02:16] What's like it.

[01:02:17] And that's kind of where I want to be very transparent with everyone.

[01:02:20] It's like as an owner, you know, do I set the tone?

[01:02:24] Do I set the direction?

[01:02:26] Absolutely.

[01:02:26] But am I in the boiler room throwing coal in the furnace every day?

[01:02:31] No.

[01:02:31] So I'm not in that like element where I used to be, where I was in the showroom speaking to customers.

[01:02:37] So I was a little more detached at that time.

[01:02:40] And I really kind of like saw it in that moment.

[01:02:43] I was like, man, people are really interested to support, you know, Subimods.

[01:02:47] They really like supporting the brand.

[01:02:49] They really like supporting their car.

[01:02:51] And that's where we took that approach to say, hey, like, let's move to a modal of you can come to the event.

[01:02:57] You can get a piece of merch that you can have a memory of that day that you bought it.

[01:03:03] And when you see it, you remember, hey, that was when I went to Subifest, Texas.

[01:03:07] I bought this shirt at the Subimods booth or, you know, whatever that may be, whatever it is.

[01:03:12] And, you know, it allowed people to support their passion.

[01:03:16] And what you see today is a is a, you know, I don't know, a thousand square feet of tent with all different cars and Subimods based apparel and things like that.

[01:03:25] And it may not sound super cool to, you know, comparatively to what we do on a day to day basis.

[01:03:30] But, you know, when people come up and go, hey, that's my car and I buy my parts from you, I'm going to buy that shirt.

[01:03:38] It's to me the biggest sign of respect because they're spending their hard earned dollars on our brand and our and they're keeping our fire going because our employees are looking at it as like, hey, these guys and these girls who are buying this stuff, they're not just they're not just looking at us as a part of the cog.

[01:03:59] Right.

[01:03:59] They're not just saying like, oh, well, you know, if Subimods wasn't there, I would buy it from someone else.

[01:04:04] They're really dedicated to what we've built.

[01:04:07] So it's really it's been it's been a cool evolution.

[01:04:11] I'll say that.

[01:04:12] Now, did you have anybody complaining that you didn't have products there when you set up for the first time?

[01:04:18] Because I'm just like, as you're telling this story, I'm imagining people being there the year before and like, oh, I can't wait to go to the Subimods tent again because I want to get I want to get this product in person from them.

[01:04:29] And they get there and they're like, what is this crap?

[01:04:33] Yeah.

[01:04:33] Yeah, we did.

[01:04:34] Yeah, we did.

[01:04:34] There were a couple there were some tough years.

[01:04:36] That first year was difficult.

[01:04:38] It didn't help that we weren't very transparent in our change of direction to the public.

[01:04:45] I think, you know, there wasn't really a way for us to be transparent about that without drawing very, you know, very loaded attention.

[01:04:54] And I don't want to make it sound like we flipped a switch, right?

[01:04:57] Like it was then there's like, you know, the pre sell it, there's selling parts and there's post selling parts.

[01:05:01] I mean, we we phased it in over, you know, a couple events.

[01:05:05] We did some merch and then we had a small segment of products and then we did more merch and there was a smaller segment of products.

[01:05:12] But it always kind of came back around to, you know, people people want what they want.

[01:05:19] That's what I'll say.

[01:05:20] Right.

[01:05:20] And how I look at it in 2023 to 2024, I'll paint this picture is the next generation of parts retailers.

[01:05:30] The me at 18 to 21, they're starting to come out now.

[01:05:34] Now, there's a new generation coming up of of engaged new shops who are kind of doing what we were doing.

[01:05:44] Right.

[01:05:44] And they're kind of cutting their own path and cutting their teeth on things.

[01:05:48] So in a way, I kind of looked at it like, all right, well, you know, we have enough to sustain what we do online.

[01:05:56] We have enough to kind of keep our fire burning and we can do something that doesn't impact the business negatively for all those people who are ordering.

[01:06:07] Right.

[01:06:08] And then we can also give the next saga of companies a chance to cut their teeth and build that culture just the same.

[01:06:15] And that was actually a really cool thing I saw at Boxer Fest was I walked the vendor row and I looked at a couple of companies and I like kind of just like I smiled at them.

[01:06:24] And, you know, I was like, OK, I see you for it.

[01:06:27] Like, I know what you're going through and I know and I talked to a few of them and I went up and introduced myself and I think they might have been few of them might have been shocked that I was doing that.

[01:06:37] But I said, hey, like, you know, good for you.

[01:06:40] Keep doing it.

[01:06:41] You know, keep keep doing that because it's not again back to the point I said earlier, keep the culture alive.

[01:06:51] That's the big element of my path now is keep the culture alive and keep the art of modifying your car and making it your own alive.

[01:07:01] That doesn't have to come from SubiMods.

[01:07:03] That doesn't have to be something exclusive to us.

[01:07:06] There can be other people.

[01:07:07] We build this together.

[01:07:08] You know, we grow together.

[01:07:10] We develop it together.

[01:07:11] We win together.

[01:07:12] Everyone kind of, you know, pushing forward on that directive.

[01:07:16] Yeah.

[01:07:17] So with the success of SubiMods or with the growth and, you know, progression of the business and the brand, what have been some of your biggest successes?

[01:07:27] We talked about success a little bit earlier and maybe when I was younger, I framed successes around buying a new car, you know, or putting new rims on things or whatever it was.

[01:07:38] But I think I've had to define that a lot in the last few years because, you know, and this gets personal again, but I share it so people who are going through it understand they're not, you know, they're not wrong to feel this way.

[01:07:53] I remember I was setting goals for myself with regard to sales or with regard to brand presence or whatever kind of metric you, you know, convoluted metric you would choose.

[01:08:03] And I would get to them and it wouldn't feel good.

[01:08:07] You know, it would it would be like, oh, well, that's cool.

[01:08:12] You did X, but you got to do Y now.

[01:08:15] And it got really dark when I had a really, really long term goal and it was a figure of of sales a month and we hit that.

[01:08:26] And it it it was like I sat at the desk and I looked at the page and I was like, if this is it, if this is what I worked for the last 10 years for.

[01:08:40] I got to do this is I was like genuinely it was like that feeling of of this isn't it.

[01:08:48] There's got to be something else.

[01:08:49] And people have to realize, like, we've you've heard this story of me.

[01:08:54] This was my life.

[01:08:56] This goal was my thing.

[01:08:58] Like I gave up birthday parties, relationships, friendships, you name it.

[01:09:04] I gave it up for this goal.

[01:09:06] And when I finally had achieved it in my mind, I was like, shit, this isn't it.

[01:09:13] And it got it got dark for a period of time where I was like, man, like, what are we going to do?

[01:09:22] What am I going to do?

[01:09:23] And I kind of slowly started to redefine what success looked like for me.

[01:09:28] And what I'd say today is my biggest success is taking a person, you know, a person comes in there, 20 years old.

[01:09:38] They've worked at this, you know, whatever it may be, this fast food restaurant or this other establishment.

[01:09:43] And they come in to the company and they, you know, maybe have a passion for cars.

[01:09:50] Maybe they have a Subaru.

[01:09:51] Maybe they don't.

[01:09:52] And they can come in to this company and they can get the honest truth of what real what real world life is, how I'm talking to you.

[01:10:01] I don't I don't hide behind this element of being an owner and spare them from the truth.

[01:10:07] I give them the reality.

[01:10:08] I set them up.

[01:10:09] I feel pretty well for, you know, what they're going to be doing.

[01:10:15] And, you know, we pay fairly.

[01:10:17] I really feel we pay even above and beyond fairly.

[01:10:21] My team has very good benefits, very good insurance, you know, very good opportunities for advancement.

[01:10:29] Not to mention all the other little value adds, but to then watch that employee grow and mature and, you know, come in 30 minutes early now.

[01:10:39] And they're willing to do more and they're willing to take on more and they're maturing and watching them make these notable moves in life.

[01:10:47] I've had employees buy houses.

[01:10:49] I've had employees get married.

[01:10:51] I've had all of these elements of their lives being able to kind of live vicariously through them in a way allowed me to redefine what I valued as important.

[01:11:01] And, you know, I know maybe that's not the answer everyone thought, but it's the answer that really matters truthfully.

[01:11:09] For you to be able to have a place and, like you said, watch people grow and progress in their career with you and see how that has impacted their lives, that is a big deal.

[01:11:22] You know, that is a success.

[01:11:24] It's something that you get to see people blossom and enjoy where they're at.

[01:11:30] Yeah. And develop their own inner working relationships to develop friendships, develop, change their worldviews in a way and give them a runway.

[01:11:39] I say to a lot of people, I, you know, a lot of my employees, one of the times that, you know, when we have discussions, I'll say, you know, hey, for however long you work here, however that is right.

[01:11:49] Right. Again, whatever, whether that's one year, five years, whatever it is, I want you to leave here if you do and go, hey, that job taught me something.

[01:12:01] I'm going to lead you to the water. I'm going to give you a cup. I'm going to give you everything you need to drink it.

[01:12:06] And if you choose to do it, I'm going to give you every chance to get back to it and then go forward from there.

[01:12:13] Right. And, you know, again, like, do I have goals for myself personally when it comes to business?

[01:12:21] Absolutely. There's more specific goals. Right. With regard to sales or, you know, I think it'd be wicked cool.

[01:12:28] One of my goals, me and Ryan were talking about was I think it'd be great to have like a car and formula drift. Right.

[01:12:32] Because I like drifting. That's something I've picked up as a passion project.

[01:12:36] But like I, I think defining what's important to you from a high level and something that really when it's all said and done and you're in the casket, what do you want people saying about you?

[01:12:53] It's extremely important.

[01:12:54] Yeah. Do you feel like you've created a different type of work culture there that maybe people wouldn't expect?

[01:13:05] What is like the work culture like there and how do you think it may be different from other places or may be different from other places?

[01:13:14] Yeah, I think it's I think it's similar. I'll say a similarity. Right.

[01:13:18] I often hear a lot from people that work bad job or jobs that they don't like, that they work for the person next to them.

[01:13:25] Right. That they'll they may don't they maybe don't like what they do, but they like who they work with.

[01:13:30] And that's what they come to work for. So I take that and I make that very staple of this business is that there's a there's a lot of camaraderie that exists in this.

[01:13:39] So I take that. But something I think that's different is, is I I learned pretty early on that you lead you lead from the front.

[01:13:48] You don't lead from the back. Right. You don't lead from telling people to do X, Y, Z, B and D.

[01:13:54] If the trash can's full, well, I work here, too. Right.

[01:13:58] Right. That comes from the era of time of me having to do everything right and being an expert in everything.

[01:14:06] And now that ultimately led down some rabbit holes during some eras of the company where, you know, sometimes people would get decision paralysis because they'd be like, well, I don't know if, you know, Nick is going to want me to do it this way or I'm not going to do it as well as Nick.

[01:14:20] But as I've matured as an owner and as a leader, I really feel that I try now at the least to give people that picture of like, hey, you know, like I can be here for you, but I need you to, you know, I'm going to I'm going to show you how to cut that path through the cornfield.

[01:14:35] But at some point I'm going to have to do I'm going to have to show someone else how to cut that path through the cornfield.

[01:14:40] And I need you to be able to then cut that same path. Right. And ride with me.

[01:14:45] You know, so that's that's something I think that's a little different.

[01:14:48] And I see that happen now in a lot of the meetings that we have where, you know, first thing, sometimes an issue comes up in a meeting today and I'm like, OK, like, what's up?

[01:14:59] You know, and they're like, well, we got this, this and that.

[01:15:01] And I'm like, listen, guys, like you're here for 40 hours a week minimum working.

[01:15:07] Like, don't ask me, like bounce an idea off me and I'll come back to you.

[01:15:11] But you're the expert now.

[01:15:12] And that that's ultimately I don't think very unique, but it is very unique to to see how we deploy it and then to see how, you know, I utilize it to kind of get my inner monologue talking and make it something valuable for the customer.

[01:15:30] Yeah. And you're empowering the people that work for you to make a decision on their own and to be able to do the work that you've entrusted them to do on their own.

[01:15:42] Yeah. And the other thing, too, that's really important for anyone in a leadership position is you may think or think that you have that you know how to cut the path through the cornfield.

[01:15:53] Right. But I will tell you that is just your ego and your mind telling you, you know, the fastest way through the cornfield.

[01:16:01] That doesn't necessarily mean that you actually know the fastest way through the cornfield.

[01:16:06] I have a lot of unique and smart people in my company smarter than me.

[01:16:12] Like, I always look to bring in people who either number one, have the work ethic or number two, possess something that I don't.

[01:16:20] Right. And that's extremely unique when you think about it, because if I believe I'm the fastest one through the cornfield and one of my guys does it better.

[01:16:32] Thanks. Absolutely. Let's do it.

[01:16:34] I like, yeah, 100 percent. So like, why and why or why would I not give them that birth to do that?

[01:16:40] Right. And at the end of the day, maybe they're faster through, you know, Q1 of the segment.

[01:16:47] Right. And then I see him slip off a little in Q2 and I'm like, oh, hey, like you're moving quick.

[01:16:52] But think about this. And then they get faster and they get better and they get more developed.

[01:16:56] And, you know, why would I not?

[01:17:01] Like, I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't want that to exist in my company.

[01:17:05] Yeah, of course. Yeah. It just helps everybody.

[01:17:08] Yeah.

[01:17:09] It helps you. It helps themselves. It helps them help other people.

[01:17:12] Other people see them doing it. So it's, you know, it's good all around.

[01:17:16] I think I think, again, really what is different here and what you're buying when you purchase through us is you're buying into Ryan and his expertise in marketing.

[01:17:28] You're buying into Josh, Bailey, Lucas and the support team's effort to come in every day and grind.

[01:17:36] You're buying into the warehouse.

[01:17:38] Jesus, Jalon, Xavier, Blake, Pedro, Rafael.

[01:17:43] You're buying into their willingness to come in and show up every day.

[01:17:47] You're buying into Justin, Josh, Caleb, Steve, all of the purchasing team.

[01:17:54] And Chuck is our customer service manager, Brian, who writes our articles like you're buying into that ecosystem of people who want to deliver the best result possible.

[01:18:07] And that's extremely important when we talk about, you know.

[01:18:12] I guess just just who, you know, who you want to work with and you make that decision for yourself.

[01:18:18] Yeah. So I know you have a marketing team, but how do you go about marketing SubiMods?

[01:18:25] In today's world, ad spend is key, right?

[01:18:28] Google, Facebook, Reddit.

[01:18:30] These are channels that they work for you, right?

[01:18:36] And ultimately, you know, in today's world, to be an e-commerce at any scale, any mid-level scale, you're doing some ad spend, right?

[01:18:47] Because you got to pay to play in that segment.

[01:18:50] So that's been key.

[01:18:51] But also in a, like, for example, like, this is going to sound very interesting, but we have a guy who's helping now, Rafael, who we spoke about, who's starting to like and comment on people's photos on Instagram.

[01:19:06] So we don't look at it as, oh, well, if we want to grow our business, let's just spend another, you know, six figures on Google this month, right?

[01:19:16] Like, yeah, that's going to be great.

[01:19:18] It might not result where you want it to be.

[01:19:21] Be cautious with that because, again, you're making a deal.

[01:19:24] And at the end of the day, Google and Facebook and all these other companies, they're providing you a service and they are doing just that.

[01:19:33] It is not their job to run your business.

[01:19:35] It is not their job to make sure you're profitable.

[01:19:38] It is not their job to really do anything other than present your product to an engaged user and hope that they click it and buy it.

[01:19:48] Doing the hard work from a marketing standpoint has been a staple of this company for sure.

[01:19:54] Yeah, that's good.

[01:19:55] And you get your name out there.

[01:19:56] And then, of course, obviously going to SubiFest events, you get a good presence there because there's always new people that are coming to SubiFest.

[01:20:03] There's people buying a Subaru for the first time every year.

[01:20:07] And you find out about SubiFest and you're like, oh, this looks like a really cool event to go to.

[01:20:13] Hey, what's this SubiMods thing?

[01:20:15] And then go to your tent and talk to people.

[01:20:17] And so I wanted to get back to that also about how you become such a big part of the all SubiMods car show at SubiFest events.

[01:20:28] And what more presence do you have besides just having a big display there?

[01:20:37] Yeah.

[01:20:38] So that goes back to, and I don't want to speak for Rob Kahn and the Subi events team and how they look at it, but you have to understand that that ultimately is also a business, right?

[01:20:48] They have a cost to turn that event on, right?

[01:20:52] They have things that they want to do.

[01:20:54] They have things that need to be done.

[01:20:57] And those things usually carry costs.

[01:21:00] So, for example, one of the things they came out with a few years ago, well, not a few years, whatever timeline, but they all started allowing people to vendors to kind of purchase elements of the show.

[01:21:14] For example, the exhaust competition or the autocross or the car show or whatever that may be.

[01:21:20] And that was a very unique path because the way I look at it is it's not us buying a bit of a name slot, right, just to have more marketing presence.

[01:21:32] Obviously, anyone can understand that that's a benefit, but it allows that to continue at events, right?

[01:21:39] Because think about this, right?

[01:21:40] We do the car show.

[01:21:43] There's, I think we give like 50 prizes, I think, right?

[01:21:47] Because you have winner and then you have runner up and all this stuff.

[01:21:52] Well, someone has to pay for the trophies, right?

[01:21:55] Yeah.

[01:21:55] Someone has to give them a prize, right?

[01:21:59] Someone has to do these things.

[01:22:01] So at the end of the day, is that the burden of Subi events or are they being a good business by coming to Subi Mods and going, hey, would you sponsor this for a fee?

[01:22:11] And then would you, you know, think about a prize?

[01:22:13] And that's exactly what you see this year is they came to us and said, hey, we want you guys to be a bigger part of this event with regard to these value adds, the exhaust competition, things like that.

[01:22:25] And we said, yeah, why not?

[01:22:28] You know, like, again, think of it like that Super Bowl.

[01:22:31] I'm getting that Super Bowl now six times a year times 2x.

[01:22:34] Like, it's a bigger play.

[01:22:36] And it allowed people to, you know, say, hey, thanks for putting this on.

[01:22:43] Thanks for willing.

[01:22:44] Thanks for investing in this, right?

[01:22:46] And I'm not saying if Subi Mods didn't sponsor the car show, it wouldn't be there.

[01:22:50] But it wouldn't be what it was this year.

[01:22:53] Let's put it that way, right?

[01:22:55] And there's other things that we do behind the scenes that, you know, we really try to make sure that, hey, let's make the event as good as possible for the attendees, right?

[01:23:10] At the end of the day, we want them coming back.

[01:23:12] We want them engaging.

[01:23:14] We want them telling their friends and, you know, saying, hey, there's this, you know, crazy 7,000 person car show that pops up in Stafford, Connecticut.

[01:23:23] You got to go to that because the more we generate that, like I said earlier, it's the same concept as maybe I'm not the one selling parts anymore, but maybe that new guy on the block is, right?

[01:23:34] And that keeps that fire burning.

[01:23:36] Yeah, that's a good point.

[01:23:37] So going back to, like, you know, SubiFest events, what other events do you attend or have you attended?

[01:23:45] Yeah.

[01:23:46] Yeah.

[01:23:46] So a big one for the end of this year in 2025 will be Gridlife.

[01:23:53] Michael and his team, we had the pleasure of doing their last event, which was at Laguna Seca in California.

[01:24:00] Gridlife will be a part of our event cycle for next year.

[01:24:04] Gridlife, for those who don't know, is a little more centered around the motor sports and the driving element, right?

[01:24:12] They do a lot with drifting and then kind of their own televised motor sports series.

[01:24:19] I guess you could say they have a lot of different tiers within it.

[01:24:21] I don't want to necessarily speak on it because I'm not a driver and I don't know all the nuances, but they have their track battle and then, you know, various other classes.

[01:24:28] And they go all around the United States, similar to Subi events at all these iconic tracks.

[01:24:34] And it was really cool for us to see.

[01:24:36] We sponsor a woman, Devin Hoffman, for this year.

[01:24:39] And she did it.

[01:24:40] And she was really pushing me and Ryan behind the scenes, like, you guys need to be at Gridlife.

[01:24:44] You guys need to be at Gridlife.

[01:24:46] And nothing ever lined up.

[01:24:48] And of course, the only one that does line up is Laguna for us.

[01:24:51] And then she's not there.

[01:24:52] So it's like this dichotomy of schedules.

[01:24:54] Yeah.

[01:24:55] But yeah, Gridlife will be one.

[01:24:58] And I urge anyone who hasn't been to, you know, if you're in one of their geographical areas, it's an amazing event.

[01:25:05] They have a really unique vibe.

[01:25:07] They do a really big concert always.

[01:25:09] You know, you get to be in the paddock, which is really cool.

[01:25:13] Like, you know, you go to these high level motor sports events and, you know, you got to stand over there.

[01:25:19] And then you look at the cars and the pits from and you never get to see it.

[01:25:22] But you can walk through the paddock, see the people, talk to the brands.

[01:25:27] It's just a really unique, a really unique motorsports driven event for sure.

[01:25:32] And then you have SEMA coming up, right?

[01:25:35] Oh, yes.

[01:25:36] Yes.

[01:25:37] The best part of the year.

[01:25:39] Yeah.

[01:25:40] SEMA is a big one.

[01:25:42] Our contribution this year to the show is a little less.

[01:25:45] In the past, we have done some cars for various vendors, raised wheels, primarily in Advent, Yokohama Racing.

[01:25:55] We've done cars.

[01:25:56] We did back to back years with them, building cars and transporting them.

[01:26:01] And this year, we're not we're not going to do that.

[01:26:03] But we will be there.

[01:26:05] We will be doing the meetings.

[01:26:06] We will be, you know, the mass masterminding of the 2025 year.

[01:26:13] But, yeah, SEMA is a SEMA is what you make it for those companies listening for sure.

[01:26:19] And when is it this year?

[01:26:21] I believe it's first week of November.

[01:26:23] So I think it's like November 4th or 5th.

[01:26:26] And it's like four days.

[01:26:27] It starts on a Tuesday and ends on a Friday.

[01:26:28] Yeah.

[01:26:29] Yeah.

[01:26:29] And that's a long event.

[01:26:31] Oh, yeah.

[01:26:31] I mean, it's it's it's I remember the first year we built a car for SEMA.

[01:26:37] And it's it's a it's an interesting story because a lot of people don't understand really what goes into it for building a car for SEMA.

[01:26:45] But I mean, it's it is, again, another reason I'm bald that year was was a was a was a lot of a lot of time.

[01:26:53] And we drove we personally transported the car out there.

[01:26:57] We actually had two cars that first year in it.

[01:26:59] And it was it was a learning experience.

[01:27:04] Let's put it that way.

[01:27:05] I learned so much.

[01:27:06] I did it again the next year.

[01:27:07] Yeah.

[01:27:08] Yeah.

[01:27:09] Obviously, it was something, you know, something that worked out well, but a lot of work, too.

[01:27:14] Yeah.

[01:27:14] It's just it's a lot, you know, before we jump.

[01:27:17] I always tell people, like, think about the concept that, you know, you build your car.

[01:27:22] But now you're having to liaison with manufacturers.

[01:27:26] And we did it with the 22 WRX in 2022.

[01:27:30] Right.

[01:27:30] So that car was brand new and people didn't have a fond opinion of it.

[01:27:35] Like anything change.

[01:27:37] Not great.

[01:27:38] People weren't happy with it.

[01:27:39] Ultimately, I was the one saying, all right, just give it a year.

[01:27:43] All you people who are saying you don't like it.

[01:27:45] Well, you'll own one in a year.

[01:27:47] And then lo and behold, it's the best selling vehicle.

[01:27:50] Right.

[01:27:51] In that in its category.

[01:27:53] Historically.

[01:27:53] Right.

[01:27:54] WRX to WRX.

[01:27:55] So, you know, we did that.

[01:27:58] We had a lot of really notable partnerships.

[01:28:02] Oh, lens coil overs.

[01:28:04] Right.

[01:28:04] We did a lot of kind of interesting trendsetting things with that car.

[01:28:07] But what no one saw behind the scenes was, you know, one of my guys having to drive both

[01:28:14] cars on an open deck trailer three days before SEMA and hotshot it across the United States.

[01:28:23] And and all of the little subtle nuances that went on to that.

[01:28:27] It was I was like, yeah, I'm never going to do this again.

[01:28:31] And then I got the call to do it next year.

[01:28:33] And then I did it.

[01:28:33] So, you know.

[01:28:35] So I want to get into or ask you about like what the future of Subi mods looks like, you

[01:28:41] know, as far as growth and everything.

[01:28:42] But with that, I wanted to ask you, do you see Subi mods moving into offering products

[01:28:51] for the overland and off-road community?

[01:28:53] Because that's a part of the community that I am in.

[01:28:56] That's part of the community that a lot of my listeners are in.

[01:28:59] And there's, you know, with Subaru coming out with the wilderness editions, they're taking

[01:29:06] notice that people are modding their off-road Subarus and they're becoming more capable.

[01:29:12] And it's, you know, it's growing more and more.

[01:29:15] It's still a small segment of Subaru as a whole.

[01:29:17] It's still a small segment of, you know, the Subi Fest events.

[01:29:20] But it's there.

[01:29:22] And I think it's a really important market to try to get into.

[01:29:27] So I was wondering if that's something that Subi mods is looking at for the future.

[01:29:32] Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[01:29:34] You know, when we talk about market segment for listeners, like we don't quote me on exact

[01:29:42] numbers, but I think average sales figures of a WRX a month are about 1,500 or so.

[01:29:49] I think that's pretty common.

[01:29:50] And BRZ is a little loaded, new ones primarily because you also have Toyota and other things.

[01:29:56] So there's a little bit more of a market segment there.

[01:29:58] We don't always tap into that Toyota side.

[01:30:00] But when you look at the Impreza, the Crosstrek, the Outback, the Ascent, the Forester, and then

[01:30:06] ultimately, you know, the Legacy, which hasn't ceases, I think, to continue now.

[01:30:12] But we're talking, it's not even a contest, right?

[01:30:18] I mean, I think when the last data we were looking at, it was like almost 10 or 15 to

[01:30:24] one, right?

[01:30:25] Wow.

[01:30:25] From that segment.

[01:30:28] And, but here's the thing is we had to look at it.

[01:30:32] And it's actually Ryan and Justin that were really pushing me on it internally was because,

[01:30:38] you know, we got to this point where we were like, well, you know, we're going to, I think

[01:30:43] one of the things, one of the points that I was making is early on in the debate was,

[01:30:47] well, no one makes anything for those cars.

[01:30:50] And they came back to me and they said, no one that we currently offer really makes anything.

[01:30:57] And that was one of those situations where they kind of cut the path through and showed

[01:31:03] me a different side of it that I didn't know, right?

[01:31:06] And that ego doesn't take over because I say like, well, I'm like, if there's an owner

[01:31:11] and they want to modify their car, who am I to decide how they should modify it, right?

[01:31:17] If they want to, you know, throw some big tires on it, put a mattress in the back of it, go

[01:31:21] out in the woods, do all that stuff, have a great time and enjoy the car.

[01:31:26] Isn't that virtually the same as the customer who maybe wants to put a set of coilovers

[01:31:32] on and rims and go to their local car show or the guy or girl who wants to, you know, install

[01:31:38] all this aero and go to the track or whatever.

[01:31:40] It's the same mode, right?

[01:31:42] It goes back to that point we said earlier of propel the culture of modifying and enjoying

[01:31:48] your vehicle.

[01:31:49] So for Subimods, the path in 2025 is absolutely that.

[01:31:53] It is absolutely to focus on the market segment that has largely been focused on those who

[01:32:00] haven't really been highlighted from a retailer like us, right?

[01:32:05] Right now that space is largely dominated by direct to consumer manufacturers, right?

[01:32:12] There's tons of brands that we've reached out to and we've had really good success, you

[01:32:18] know, kind of saying, hey, look, like we're not necessarily sure what this looks like in

[01:32:22] a year or whatever it is, but we know we want to be a part of the process with you.

[01:32:27] So like, let's give it a shot.

[01:32:28] Right.

[01:32:29] And that ultimately, I think, is really our path to success because as much as it pains

[01:32:36] me, I don't know how much longer we have with a gas powered WRX, right?

[01:32:43] I don't know how much longer that car exists in America.

[01:32:46] I don't know what that future looks like.

[01:32:48] But I do know that from all signs that we're seeing right now, Subaru will continue to invest

[01:32:57] heavily in the wilderness aspect of their business.

[01:33:00] They will continuously invest in these platforms that are more, I guess, in their opinion, I

[01:33:06] think they would say universal, right?

[01:33:08] And that is going to require a different version of Subimods to support that.

[01:33:15] Well, I like the sound of that.

[01:33:16] And I think people listening would like the sound of that, too, because I think it would be

[01:33:21] really important to be kind of like a central hub of where people can get a lot of the products

[01:33:27] that they are wanting and needing and desiring, you know.

[01:33:32] And I think you could have an opportunity to reach out to the community to ask them, hey,

[01:33:37] what would you like to see at Subimods?

[01:33:39] Like, what are the people typically buying?

[01:33:42] What kind of products?

[01:33:43] What kind of brands?

[01:33:44] And, you know, what should we offer to that community, to that market segment?

[01:33:50] And I think there's a really good opportunity for Subimods to tap into that.

[01:33:54] Absolutely.

[01:33:55] And I mean, we do it from a ground floor sense, too, in the way of, you know, like Ryan and

[01:34:00] I were at Gridlife.

[01:34:01] We were walking through this showcase that they let us put on this corral where they had all

[01:34:05] the Subarus parked.

[01:34:06] And, you know, we're looking like as enthusiasts, we're like, oh, man, hey, like, did you see

[01:34:11] that?

[01:34:11] Like, that's that same, you know, front bar setup that that guy at the, you know, competition

[01:34:16] Subaru event in New York had a few months ago.

[01:34:19] Or you remember that, you know?

[01:34:21] Oh, hey, like, that's really interesting.

[01:34:23] Like, you know, and there was a gentleman and I forget his name at that event, that competition

[01:34:27] Subaru event in New York where, you know, we were like, hey, man, like, like, I also think

[01:34:33] a huge part of this is, is I don't claim to know, right?

[01:34:37] A lot about this.

[01:34:38] So we go up to the guy and we're like, hey, man, like, can you like kind of show us through

[01:34:41] this?

[01:34:42] Like, talk, talk me through this.

[01:34:43] Like, I'm kind of learning from the customer in that way.

[01:34:46] And he's like, yeah, I had to do, you know, this foot pound rear spring because I have

[01:34:50] all this kind of, you know, drawer and, you know, utility set up in the back.

[01:34:56] And this is where I get my power from.

[01:34:58] And this is how I do this.

[01:35:00] And I'm like, I'm looking at it like, oh, my Lord, like this guy's got to have like

[01:35:05] 20 grand.

[01:35:06] Oh, yeah.

[01:35:07] There's some there's a lot that goes into some of these off road rigs.

[01:35:11] And yeah, it's it's pretty incredible.

[01:35:14] Some of the accounts that are out there, you see like what they've built up.

[01:35:18] And and so, yeah, I did.

[01:35:20] Like I said, I think there's a really good opportunity for an untapped market segment

[01:35:26] for SubiMods to really get into.

[01:35:28] And there's a good learning opportunity, like you said, talking to the end users about

[01:35:33] their setup and because there's been a lot of trial and error with people out there of

[01:35:38] trying different types of suspension and going like, oh, this just didn't work out for me

[01:35:43] long term.

[01:35:43] So I decided to go with this and I had a lot of success with this because these people

[01:35:48] had a lot of success with it.

[01:35:49] And so there's a lot of communication out there within the off road community of what

[01:35:55] is working best, because one of the things that we talk about on a lot of the episodes is

[01:36:01] how open people are to share information.

[01:36:04] Like when somebody buys a Crosstrek, let's say, and they're like, I want wheels and tires,

[01:36:09] but I have no idea what to get.

[01:36:11] And so they start reaching out to other people in the community and getting their feedback.

[01:36:15] And that's where a lot of the information comes from is from other people in the community

[01:36:19] who are 100 percent willing to share what they did.

[01:36:23] There's rarely do you find somebody that's like, this is my setup and I don't want you to

[01:36:28] copy it.

[01:36:28] So I'm not going to tell you what I did.

[01:36:29] You don't really get that.

[01:36:31] And that's one of the things that people really enjoy a lot about on the off road side is

[01:36:38] just how open and how much people are willing to share how they got to where they are now.

[01:36:45] Yeah.

[01:36:45] And I'll say to that, I look at it like at Subi events, you can walk up to someone and

[01:36:50] ask them, hey, what did you do with X, Y, Z, B, and D?

[01:36:53] And they'll go, yeah, I did this.

[01:36:54] OK, awesome.

[01:36:55] How do we do that on scale, though?

[01:36:57] Right.

[01:36:57] That's my thing.

[01:36:58] Something we deployed with our new website revision a few years ago is this really robust

[01:37:03] reviews portal, right?

[01:37:06] Where, you know, we not only want you to share what you've bought, right?

[01:37:10] And leave reviews, whether they're good, bad or indifferent.

[01:37:13] But we're going to reward you for doing so.

[01:37:15] We're going to provide you rewards points and incentives for that, right?

[01:37:18] To make the deal even sweeter.

[01:37:20] And that is where I think about that on that macro level, right?

[01:37:24] Like, hey, like scale this and allow people a chance to do that.

[01:37:28] And it's been amazing to see what that's grown into now a few years down the line where we have,

[01:37:33] you know, something like 18,000 product reviews and about 65 percent of them have photos.

[01:37:40] And it's amazing to see people making their shopping experience based on what others in the industry are doing.

[01:37:48] We see that a lot with products like rims or coilovers or I mean anything really intrinsically that images or videos help make a decision on.

[01:37:59] But I almost feel like at times, like they're not really, at least for me, I always shop on reviews, right?

[01:38:07] That's how I kind of move.

[01:38:09] Yeah, it's big.

[01:38:10] Yeah.

[01:38:11] And then I think of it like when you come to SubiMods, you know, you hit this page where there's this remark axle back and you're like, man, they don't have any sound clips.

[01:38:19] And then you scroll down and someone as a customer posted some sound clips.

[01:38:23] You're like, man, that's cool.

[01:38:25] That's what I want.

[01:38:26] I'm willing to buy that now.

[01:38:28] And that's not something that's a credit to the customer who posted that.

[01:38:33] But that's also a credit to my team behind the scenes who are, for example, Chuck, every time someone leaves a product review on our site, good, bad or indifferent, we respond to it.

[01:38:44] Right.

[01:38:45] Hey, it's good.

[01:38:46] Thanks for sharing your experience.

[01:38:47] We really appreciate you.

[01:38:49] If it's bad, what went wrong?

[01:38:50] What can we do to help?

[01:38:52] Is there anything we can do?

[01:38:53] Are you just unhappy with the product or did something go wrong?

[01:38:56] But how can we assist?

[01:38:57] And we don't hide it.

[01:38:59] Right.

[01:39:00] Like there's no point.

[01:39:01] If someone's unhappy with a product, their review is valid just as someone who's happy with the product.

[01:39:07] So, again, put the products in a gauntlet.

[01:39:10] Let people share their opinion.

[01:39:11] And the one that comes out on top is the one that's victorious.

[01:39:14] And that's the one that will succeed.

[01:39:16] Yeah.

[01:39:17] And that's really good that you reply to all of the comments because that's important because that's what people want to see, too.

[01:39:22] And that goes back to what I was saying earlier about really good customer service is you don't want to see a bunch of comments on there, especially any that may be negative.

[01:39:30] And it's like these guys never even responded to it.

[01:39:33] They, you know, they didn't even offer to help or anything like that.

[01:39:36] So that's really good on y'all to put that time and effort into it.

[01:39:40] Yeah.

[01:39:41] And it's not easy.

[01:39:42] And I give a lot of credit.

[01:39:43] Yeah.

[01:39:44] Ultimately, you just you want the customer experience to be good and you want it to be smooth and you want them to come back.

[01:39:51] Absolutely.

[01:39:52] So we're about to get into the very last segment here.

[01:39:55] But was there anything else that you wanted to say about SubiMods?

[01:39:59] No, I think you covered it.

[01:40:00] I mean, you know, there's a lot there.

[01:40:02] There's a good bit there, you know, we're running on.

[01:40:05] But, you know, I I think it helps paint a picture of like as a closing point of of like we said is, you know, what what this is and what this means to me and my team.

[01:40:15] You know, and again, I think, you know, like I said, we don't we're not perfect.

[01:40:20] I don't profess to be.

[01:40:22] But I'd be hard pressed to find another and as dedicated group of individuals as the ones we possess here that that want it like we do.

[01:40:30] Yeah.

[01:40:30] Oh, that's good.

[01:40:31] It's good to to hear that and to know that that's important to you and that everybody is kind of on the same page for that.

[01:40:38] So, yeah, absolutely.

[01:40:40] So in this little last segment, it's it's to get to know the person behind the account or here, you know, it's the brand.

[01:40:49] And, you know, I'm talking to you and you're the owner.

[01:40:52] So that's why these questions are directed to you.

[01:40:54] But so the first question is, who is Nick?

[01:40:58] Oh, that's a good one.

[01:41:00] That's a it's broad, but that's a question for my therapist.

[01:41:05] Right.

[01:41:07] That's a tough one.

[01:41:08] Right.

[01:41:08] I think and I'm going to be bluntly transparent.

[01:41:11] I gave so many years to who to who I thought I was and what I thought this company was and how I thought I formed into my what I was that up until a few years ago.

[01:41:24] I cannot tell you who I was.

[01:41:26] I cannot tell you what I liked or what I didn't like or what my what my beliefs were on something.

[01:41:36] Right.

[01:41:36] I was always flexible.

[01:41:38] I was always able to kind of chameleon into whatever needed to be done, because that's how you have to be in business.

[01:41:44] Right.

[01:41:45] Right.

[01:41:45] You can't you can't really.

[01:41:49] You have a compass.

[01:41:51] Right.

[01:41:51] But you can't in business.

[01:41:53] You're going to get pulled away from it and you have to steer back to it.

[01:41:56] Whereas sometimes when you say, who are you and who are you as an individual?

[01:42:00] Those are guiding elements that you have for your whole life.

[01:42:02] So up until a few years ago or even now, I'm not even going to lie up until probably months ago, I've had trouble defining that.

[01:42:11] But I can say, who am I?

[01:42:14] Someone who.

[01:42:17] Someone who will go to war and sacrifice a lot for everyone else, truthfully, and maybe puts themselves too low on the totem pole.

[01:42:25] But I know when I'm not here anymore in this world, you know, they're I'll have left nothing on the table.

[01:42:35] I'll put it that way.

[01:42:36] Yeah, that's good.

[01:42:37] That's a good answer.

[01:42:38] I like that.

[01:42:39] Yeah.

[01:42:40] Where were you born?

[01:42:42] I was actually born in Cromwell, Connecticut, which is a central Connecticut, Middlesex County area.

[01:42:47] OK.

[01:42:48] All right.

[01:42:49] Yeah.

[01:42:49] Do you have a favorite memory from your childhood?

[01:42:53] Oh, I really think one of the bigger ones for me was.

[01:42:58] Was.

[01:42:59] Similar to, you know, my dad would bring home new cars that he was working on and things like that.

[01:43:04] And I always really liked the the I always look fondly back at the memories of, you know, him bringing me to school because that was like a.

[01:43:15] As he was really diving into the business and really was becoming more unavailable.

[01:43:20] That was like my I would see him then.

[01:43:23] Right.

[01:43:23] So that kind of blended the passion of, you know, my father and the cars.

[01:43:27] And it was always cool to, you know, pull up to school in this new, you know, kind of, you know, modded out WRX or STI.

[01:43:33] And everybody like, oh, my God, what is that?

[01:43:35] So it kind of did well for the ego at that age.

[01:43:38] But it also really went to something I think that plays a lot into today's world, you know, is is is the fact that he did something and then it made an it made a positive effect on me, I would say.

[01:43:53] Yeah.

[01:43:53] No, that's a good memory.

[01:43:55] So we know what you do for a living.

[01:43:57] And I kept this question in just because, you know, it's it's a fun question that I ask sometimes.

[01:44:03] So is what would your dream job be?

[01:44:05] You know, if you're working some regular job, but it sounds like you are living your dream job.

[01:44:10] But is there more to it?

[01:44:12] Kind of one of the things I think really works for me as a point I made earlier is watching people develop.

[01:44:17] So some sort of mentorship or some sort of just using the wealth of information that this world has given me for the last 10, 12, 13 years, whatever it's been to kind of help, you know, that next generation up is definitely something that I'd look forward to if this chapter closes.

[01:44:36] Yeah, that's good.

[01:44:37] What hobbies do you have?

[01:44:40] Yeah, it kind of goes back to the first question of who's Nick, right?

[01:44:43] So I'm not great with my hobbies.

[01:44:46] I did pick one up, though.

[01:44:48] This is probably my fondest adult memory.

[01:44:53] My I will call him my brother in law, my fiance's brother.

[01:44:57] He actually got me into drifting and he had like pushed me for years.

[01:45:03] He's like, all the cars you buy are stupid.

[01:45:05] You know, I don't like any of them.

[01:45:08] He's like, you should just get a 240 and come drift with me.

[01:45:11] And I'm like, look, man, like, I don't like it.

[01:45:13] I'm not going to do it.

[01:45:14] And I don't know what it was at some point.

[01:45:18] He he just I don't know.

[01:45:20] He just berated me long enough that eventually I was like, OK, let's go.

[01:45:24] And I went with him to one of the events that we do out here that we go to.

[01:45:29] It's a lock city drift.

[01:45:30] And I got in the car with him and I was like, holy cow, like this kid can drive.

[01:45:39] You know, he's like 16, 17 at the time.

[01:45:42] And he's just throwing this car that he built himself.

[01:45:45] And I was just like, God damn, like, you know, excuse my language, like, wow, like this is crazy.

[01:45:52] And a few years go by and he manages to get me, you know, I we buy a BRZ for the company.

[01:45:59] And he's like, you're going to drift it.

[01:46:01] And I'm like, yeah, I'm going to drift it.

[01:46:02] I then proceeded to crash it into a wall and had some, you know, it wasn't one of my greater moments driving.

[01:46:11] But, you know, it really like it was really cool to actually a big defining moment and regarding the hobby.

[01:46:20] And something that was really cool for me was I told my fiance, I was like, you know, because he got me into drifting.

[01:46:26] I was like, it'd be really cool to do a tandem drift with him because, you know, putting the two cars side by side.

[01:46:34] It was like it was an inadvertent hot.

[01:46:37] It was like an inadvertent tying of this whole like saga of these years together.

[01:46:42] And we actually got to do that a few weekends ago.

[01:46:45] He's a far better driver than I am.

[01:46:47] I'm honestly I'm horrible relative to him.

[01:46:50] But we got that photo and I remember looking back at it.

[01:46:54] I think he sent it to me and I was just sitting there for a minute and I'm like, all right, like.

[01:47:00] That's that that's that real stuff.

[01:47:02] That's that real S word that you're like, OK, that means something in the grand scheme of life.

[01:47:07] What is something that makes you want to get out of bed every day?

[01:47:12] You know, I think I think it for me, it's the under under underlying sense of.

[01:47:23] So there's someone in my is actually my landlord.

[01:47:27] He he says to me, anytime I say something not negative about my day or whatever, how are you doing?

[01:47:34] Or he goes, what's the alternative?

[01:47:37] Hmm.

[01:47:38] So I pose that question to you.

[01:47:40] What makes you get out of bed every day?

[01:47:42] Just say, what's the alternative?

[01:47:43] Yeah.

[01:47:44] You know, that's good.

[01:47:46] And it's very simple.

[01:47:48] But.

[01:47:51] I think when you you've you've understood a little bit of who I am in the last few hours,

[01:47:56] and that's pretty much a very Nick thing to say, is what's the alternative when you think about that question?

[01:48:03] All right.

[01:48:03] All right.

[01:48:04] What is something that would make you want to stay in bed?

[01:48:07] I think I think a lot of it is, is, you know, there's days that you wake up and you think, man, I'm not I'm not in it today.

[01:48:17] Right.

[01:48:18] You know, this isn't this day might not go right or I got to do this thing or I got to have this tough discussion.

[01:48:24] But, you know, something that that makes me genuinely want to stay stagnant is the the fear, I think, of the unknown.

[01:48:36] Right.

[01:48:37] You sometimes as much as maybe people believe owners are without fear and, you know, leaders are completely devolved of any, you know, concern or whatever.

[01:48:50] There's days where that pressure mounts and some days are stronger than others.

[01:48:55] So that's probably one of those real those real answers where, you know, sometimes the prospect of what comes next is.

[01:49:02] It buys me an hour or two.

[01:49:06] I'll just stay here for a little bit.

[01:49:08] Yeah.

[01:49:08] Let me just let this one cook for a little and another hour will make it worth it.

[01:49:12] Yeah.

[01:49:12] All right.

[01:49:13] What is or what would be your best bit of advice to give to someone about anything?

[01:49:18] There's been a few good elements of it.

[01:49:21] But what I would say is don't be so hard on yourself.

[01:49:25] Right.

[01:49:25] Have a little bit of compassion.

[01:49:27] Have a little bit of empathy.

[01:49:29] Right.

[01:49:29] For yourself, because if you don't.

[01:49:33] You can burn that fire.

[01:49:35] That fire can burn very hot and it can push you forward very, very, very quickly in life.

[01:49:41] Right.

[01:49:41] If you treat yourself harshly and you hold yourself to a very high standard and you're very hard on yourself.

[01:49:46] But that fire isn't endless.

[01:49:50] Right.

[01:49:50] You you don't get to.

[01:49:53] You don't get to live like that for years and then come out of it happy.

[01:49:58] Right.

[01:49:58] Always remember that at the end of the day, there's bigger things in life than what you're holding yourself to today.

[01:50:07] And it's OK to say, hey, you know what?

[01:50:10] I'm not where I want to be.

[01:50:12] But you know what?

[01:50:13] But I'm going to be there one day and whether that's tomorrow, next week, next month, next year.

[01:50:19] Say in a race, you know, no one gets out alive.

[01:50:22] Right.

[01:50:22] Enjoy the time you have here.

[01:50:24] Yeah, definitely.

[01:50:25] Definitely good advice.

[01:50:27] It's yeah.

[01:50:28] You know, got to enjoy it while we can.

[01:50:30] And that's that kind of goes back to not burning the candle on both ends and not.

[01:50:35] I mean, there's the hustle, but then there's also there.

[01:50:39] There's just too much, you know, you have to I think if you hustle too much and you don't try to enjoy life, then you're going to look back and be like, what was I doing all this time?

[01:50:50] You know, I didn't I didn't.

[01:50:52] How many times do you hear that?

[01:50:53] Right.

[01:50:53] You know, how many times have you heard that story in your life of someone say, oh, man, you know, saying morbidly on their deathbed.

[01:51:01] But I wish I did this or I wish I did that or, you know, I wish I went to Rome or I wish I had a better relationship with my father or whatever it is.

[01:51:09] Right. And and, you know, you think about it and you say and I sit here now at 30 years old.

[01:51:15] And if I heard myself, if myself, my 20 year old self heard my 30 year old self talking like this, he'd probably say something really off color and kind of be like, oh, you know, a new car will fix it or whatever.

[01:51:27] But I think it's really important that people understand that, you know, we get one chance to do this.

[01:51:34] Right. That this thing called life and we don't really ever you experience your life through your lens.

[01:51:44] And if you are burning the candle at both ends, you're not experiencing everything that the world has to offer because ultimately you're not capable of experiencing it because you're so burned out.

[01:51:55] Yeah. And that's a dangerous rabbit hole to get into, because I can tell you as someone who got into that rabbit hole.

[01:52:05] Once you're in it, it doesn't get better and it's much easier to drive that well deeper and deeper and deeper.

[01:52:14] And, you know, you it just it's not good. It's not good at all.

[01:52:19] No. Well, hey, I want to that's kind of a morbid end.

[01:52:23] And, you know, at the end of the day, keep modifying your cars, keep enjoying your life and exactly do what makes you happy.

[01:52:32] Yeah. One hundred percent.

[01:52:33] Well, thank you for taking the time to record with me and be a guest on the podcast and share the story of Subi Mods, where it started, where it's headed and, you know, a little bit of everything in between.

[01:52:46] Absolutely. No, thank you for having us. Thank you for creating kind of an area for us to come and talk like this.

[01:52:52] I think it's really unique to be able to have this type of dialogue.

[01:52:54] So credit to you for being able to kind of, you know, do have this type of discussion, right, where it's real.

[01:53:02] Right. You know, we this is a real discussion just talking about life.

[01:53:06] So, again, credit to you and what you've built.

[01:53:08] And, you know, again, thank you to all the customers and listeners for what you've done for us and our team as well.

[01:53:14] It doesn't go it doesn't go forgotten.

[01:53:16] Yeah. It's good. Good place to be.

[01:53:19] Absolutely. Awesome. Thank you, guys.

[01:53:21] Yeah. I hope you have a good night.

[01:53:23] Awesome. Thank you, boss. I appreciate you.

[01:53:25] You're welcome. You too.

[01:53:26] Yep.

[01:53:27] All right. Bye.

[01:53:28] Hello, everybody.

[01:53:29] Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Subi and You podcast.

[01:53:33] And thank you, Nick from Subi Mods for taking the time to record with me and share your story about Subi Mods, how it got started, where it has gone and where it is going to.

[01:53:46] So if you're not doing so, give them a follow on Instagram.

[01:53:50] It's S-U-B-I-M-O-D-S.

[01:53:53] You can also check out their website at subimods.com.

[01:53:57] So go give them a follow.

[01:53:59] Let's see what kind of products they can come up with and what kind of brands that they can have available, hopefully in the near future for the off-road and overland community.

[01:54:12] And if you are listening to this and you're more in the tuner community, check out their website because they, I'm sure, have a lot of products available.

[01:54:21] I'm sure they have some things available for the off-road community that we may not necessarily know about.

[01:54:27] But let's go browse the site and see what they have.

[01:54:29] They definitely have merch.

[01:54:31] So you can also support that way and show your love for Subi Mods.

[01:54:36] I hope you all have a great week.

[01:54:39] And now, I mean, we're into daylight savings now, depending on where you are.

[01:54:44] And also, we're into Thanksgiving territory.

[01:54:49] So time for celebration and time for family, food.

[01:54:54] So we've got the holidays coming up.

[01:54:57] That's exciting, too.

[01:54:58] So thank you all so much for tuning in again.

[01:55:02] And again, I hope you all have a great week.

[01:55:04] Much Subi love.

[01:55:05] Raph.

[01:55:07] The Subi and You podcast is hosted by Raphael in a closet in Houston, produced by Raphael in a room next to the closet in Houston,

[01:55:15] and edited by Raphael on a computer in the room next to the closet in Houston,

[01:55:19] with music by Luke Ruiz in another room in Houston.

[01:55:23] You can find the Subi and You podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and many more.

[01:55:30] To support the podcast, please head over to patreon.com slash subi and you podcast.

[01:55:35] Once you join, you will have access to the Discord channel and Discord chats with other patrons.

[01:55:40] If you'd like to get in contact with the show, you can find them on Instagram at subi and you podcast,

[01:55:46] online at subi and you podcast.com or by email subi and you podcast at gmail.com.

[01:55:52] That's all for this week.